Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Albania?

Registration: conditions apply, for the keepers covered below. What we found on bird flu, welfare and the keeping rule follows, including what we couldn't establish.

Read from 1 official source15 passages quotedChecked October 29, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Conditions apply

National keeping rule

No rule identified

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in Albania, not legal advice. Local ordinances and zoning, HOA rules, and any local rooster or coop limits aren't covered here yet: check your local code before you get hens.

Keeping your flock

These findings cover the national scope stated below. They do not determine whether chickens are allowed at a particular home. City zoning, property restrictions and other local rules are outside this research.

Registering as a poultry keeper

Conditions apply to this finding

Jurisdiction: Albania

Applies to: Owners or keepers of animals; the Veterinary Service Law's animals include birds.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No ministerial order making identification of poultry mandatory, and no procedure for registering a poultry keeper, was found in the texts read.
  • Read in the National Food Authority's copy of the law (amendments listed to 2020); later changes not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • The owner or keeper of animals is responsible for identifying and registering the animals and the livestock farm.
  • Individual identification is mandatory for cattle, sheep, goats, equids and pigs; for other species the minister orders mandatory identification to prevent, detect or control infectious disease or to control animal trade. No order covering poultry was found.
  • Animals and livestock farms are identified and registered under the national identification and registration system; whether a backyard flock counts as a livestock farm was not established.

Thresholds

  • No flock-size threshold was quoted.

Authority: Not established from the sources checked.

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

  • Pronari ose kujdestari i kafshëve është përgjegjës për: a) identifikimin dhe regjistrimin e kafshëve dhe të fermës blegtorale;

    Ligji nr. 10 465, neni 8, shkronja a) · Checked

  • 26. “Kafshë” janë gjitarët, shpendët, amfibët, zvarranikët, peshqit, molusqet, krustacët, vertebrorë ose jovertebrorë, që mbarështohen nga njerëzit për qëllime tregtare ose jotregtare ose që jetojnë të lira në natyrë.

    Ligji nr. 10 465, neni 3, pika 26 · Checked

  • 19. “Fermë” është çdo ndërmarrje, strukturë ose, në rastin e rritjes së lirë, çdo mjedis, në të cilin mbahen, rriten ose trajtohen kafshët, përgjithnjë ose përkohësisht, me përjashtim të vendeve ku ushtrohet praktika veterinare.

    Ligji nr. 10 465, neni 3, pika 19 · Checked

  • (ndryshuar me ligjet nr. 70/2013, datë 14.2.2013 dhe nr.71/2020, datё 4.6.2020)

    Ligji nr. 10 465, amendment note under the title · Checked

  • 1. Gjedhi, delet, dhitë, njëthundrakët dhe derrat i nënshtrohen identifikimit të detyrueshëm individual, në përputhje me rregulloren e miratuar nga ministri.

    Ligji nr. 10 465, neni 6, pika 1 · Checked

  • 3. Për të parandaluar, zbuluar e kontrolluar sëmundje infektive dhe për të kontrolluar tregtinë e kafshëve, ministri urdhëron identifikimin e detyrueshëm të llojeve të tjera të kafshëve.

    Ligji nr. 10 465, neni 6, pika 3 · Checked

  • 1. Kafshët dhe fermat blegtorale identifikohen dhe regjistrohen sipas sistemit kombëtar IR.

    Ligji nr. 10 465, neni 11, pika 1 · Checked

Bird-flu housing orders

Current status needs rechecking

An official current-status link has not been established.

Orders can change between checks. A missed check or an expired order does not establish that no order applies.

Housing-order finding as checked on 2026-11-08

The scope and conditions below are a dated record, not confirmation of today's position.

Not established from the sources checked

Uses housing orders in this scope: Not established from the sources checked.

Jurisdiction: Albania

Applies to: Disease-control measures by the veterinary service and the minister.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No indoor-keeping (housing) measure for bird flu was found in the veterinary law sections read (copy with amendments listed to 2020); later changes, including any newer animal health law, were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • The veterinary service separates and isolates sick animals from healthy ones and applies other prophylactic measures; additional disease-control measures are approved by order of the minister.
  • Current status is not shown here.
Checked
Recheck due

Historical evidence, as checked

These quotations record what was checked on the dates shown. They do not confirm an order's current status.

Small-flock welfare minimums

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Albania

Applies to: Owners and keepers of animals and managers of livestock farms.

Outside this finding's scope

  • Read in the National Food Authority's copy of the veterinary law (amendments listed to 2020); later changes not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • Owners and keepers must care for their animals and not abandon them.
  • Each animal needs a suitable place, conditions and microclimate, and enough food and water with free access.
  • Animals are kept in a way suited to the purpose of keeping them, their physiological needs and species traits.

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

No rule identified in this research

Jurisdiction: Albania

Applies to: Keeping chickens at home.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No national rule on where chickens may be kept was identified in the texts read; this is not permission to keep chickens.

This does not establish that keeping is unrestricted or that all rules are local.

Selling eggs in Albania? →License, small-flock line, markets and cartons, on their own page.Selling: License: depends

More countries we've checked

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Albania?
Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: Owners or keepers of animals; the Veterinary Service Law's animals include birds. No flock-size threshold was quoted. Outside this finding's scope: No ministerial order making identification of poultry mandatory, and no procedure for registering a poultry keeper, was found in the texts read. Read in the National Food Authority's copy of the law (amendments listed to 2020); later changes not checked.
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Albania?
The national sources we read don't settle it, and we haven't identified who decides. Check your local rules before you get hens.
Do I have to keep my hens indoors for bird flu in Albania?
Housing orders come and go, so we never show one as current. We haven't confirmed an official current-status page for it.

Allowed where you live? Then keep the records.

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