Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Barbados?

The national sources we read (mostly Laws of Barbados consolidations dated L.R.O. 1978 to 2002; each finding gives its date) don't settle registration or who decides where hens can live. Here's what they do say.

Read from 7 official sources26 passages quotedChecked October 29, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Not established

National keeping rule

No rule identified

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in Barbados, 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

No rule identified in this research

Jurisdiction: Barbados

Applies to: Poultry keepers in Barbados.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No register of poultry keepers or flocks was found in the Animals (Diseases and Importation) Act, Cap. 253 or the Health Services (Domestic Animals) Regulations, 1982 read. This does not prove that none exists.
  • The Protection of Agricultural Products and Livestock Act, 2017 was repealed by the Protection of Agricultural Products Act, 2022, which came into operation on 6 March 2023.

What the checked sources say

  • Ask the Veterinary Services Department of the Ministry of Agriculture whether any registration applies to your flock.

Authority: Veterinary Services Department, Ministry of Agriculture

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

Bird-flu housing orders

Current status needs rechecking

Check the agency's own page (not a status page)

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 2026-10-29

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

No rule identified in this research

This does not establish that no authority can order poultry to be housed or confined.

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

Jurisdiction: Barbados

Applies to: Animals under the Animals (Diseases and Importation) Act, Cap. 253, and poultry if the Minister applies the Act to poultry by order (s.24).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No order requiring backyard flocks to be housed was identified in the texts read. This page does not say whether any order applies now.
  • The list of diseases in section 2 of the text read names Newcastle disease, psittacosis, pullorum disease and avian tuberculosis but not avian influenza; whether avian influenza has been added by order under section 11, and whether the Act has been applied to poultry under section 24, was not established.
  • The text read is the Ministry of Agriculture's copy with L.R.O. 1978 and 1997 pages; the Animals (Diseases and Importation) (Amendment) Act, 2014 replaced section 22, and other later changes were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • A person with a diseased animal must, as far as practicable, keep it separate from other animals and give notice to the Senior Veterinary Officer or the nearest police station (s.4(1)).
  • The Minister may by order declare any area infected with disease and may make regulations for the control of diseased or suspected animals (ss.6, 12(1)).
  • For current measures, check the Veterinary Services Department of the Ministry of Agriculture.
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: Barbados

Applies to: Every person; animal includes any animal, whether a quadruped or not, that is tamed or being tamed to serve some purpose of man's use (Cap. 144A s.2, L.R.O. 2002 text).

Outside this finding's scope

  • Poultry are not named in the definition of animal; it covers any animal, whether a quadruped or not, that is tamed or being tamed to serve some purpose of man's use.
  • The Act was read in the L.R.O. 2002 consolidation published by the Ministry of Agriculture; the Attorney General's index of amended Acts for 2009 to 2019 lists no amendment to it, and other years were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • In the L.R.O. 2002 text, anyone who wantonly and cruelly beats, ill-treats, starves, abuses or otherwise maltreats any animal commits an offence (s.3(1)).
  • In the same text, anyone who tethers or keeps an animal in a manner or in conditions likely to cause it unnecessary suffering commits an offence (s.5(1)).

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

No rule identified in this research

Jurisdiction: Barbados

Applies to: Keeping animals under the Health Services (Domestic Animals) Regulations, 1982.

Outside this finding's scope

  • Part III of those regulations, on keeping animals other than pigs, defines animal so as not to include poultry; no national rule on how many chickens may be kept, or where, was found in the texts read.
  • The national texts' silence on poultry is not permission to keep chickens.

What the checked sources say

  • No national limit on keeping chickens was found in the texts read; the Health Services (Domestic Animals) Regulations, 1982 set keeping rules for pigs and for other animals, but their Part III definition of animal does not include poultry.

The official wording

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

Selling eggs in Barbados? →Licence, small-flock line, markets and cartons, on their own page.Selling: Licence: not stated

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Barbados?
Registration: no rule identified. The finding covers: Poultry keepers in Barbados. Outside this finding's scope: No register of poultry keepers or flocks was found in the Animals (Diseases and Importation) Act, Cap. 253 or the Health Services (Domestic Animals) Regulations, 1982 read. This does not prove that none exists. The Protection of Agricultural Products and Livestock Act, 2017 was repealed by the Protection of Agricultural Products Act, 2022, which came into operation on 6 March 2023. Authority: Veterinary Services Department, Ministry of Agriculture.
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Barbados?
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 Barbados?
Housing orders come and go, so we never show one as current. This page links the agency's own page to check; it is not a status page.

Allowed where you live? Then keep the records.

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