Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Benin?

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 4 official sources27 passages quotedChecked October 30, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Conditions apply

National keeping rule

Rule with conditions

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Not established

A sourced reading of national law in Benin, 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: Benin

Applies to: Under Law 2022-14, raising domestic animals ('l'élevage des animaux domestiques') is an agricultural activity by nature (Art. 1), and agricultural production activities may be carried on as a family farm or as an agricultural enterprise (Art. 59). Agricultural enterprises are registered ('immatriculées') with the competent State services and registered ('enregistrées') with the chambers of agriculture (Art. 60); this is a registration of the enterprise itself, not of a flock or its premises. No definition of either form was found in the law's definitions (Art. 1), and whether a household keeping a few hens is an agricultural enterprise was not established.

Outside this finding's scope

  • Law 2022-14 says family farms and agricultural enterprises are constituted in accordance with the laws and regulations (Art. 59); those texts and any registration procedure were not read, so no rule for family farms is stated here. Silence is not permission.
  • No duty to register a flock was found in Decree 2005-637, in the sections of Law 2022-04 read, or in Law 2022-14 Arts 1, 59 and 60 (Art. 60 registers the enterprise itself). This does not prove that none exists.
  • The 2019 pastoral code applies mainly to pastoral livestock of cattle, sheep, goats, camels, horses and donkeys (Law 2018-20, Art. 3).
  • Law 2022-14 (19 July 2022) is read in the Government Secretariat's copy; later amendments were not checked.

Authority: Not established from the sources checked.

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

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 2026-10-30

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: Benin

Applies to: No power to order birds to be housed or kept indoors because of bird flu was found in the texts read. Decree 2005-637 makes plague and pseudo-plagues of poultry notifiable throughout Benin (Art. 2) and, for plague or highly pathogenic avian influenza, provides for a ministerial order declaring infected premises and enclosures and setting the infected zone (Art. 71).

Outside this finding's scope

  • This page does not say whether any order applies now, and no official page showing current bird-flu measures was identified in the sources read.
  • Decree 2005-637 is read as published by the Government Secretariat; later amendments were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • When a case of plague or highly pathogenic avian influenza is found in a locality, the minister in charge of veterinary services issues an order declaring infected the premises and enclosures where the animals are and setting the extent of the infected zone; vaccination is compulsory in infected perimeters (Art. 71).
  • Sick animals are slaughtered and destroyed at once, and eggs from contaminated farms may be neither eaten nor marketed (Art. 73).
  • The measures can be lifted only 30 days after slaughter of the last sick bird, if no other outbreak has appeared, and after disinfection of poultry houses (Art. 74).
  • For notifiable diseases in general, the competent prefect declares infection and delimits the infected zone, unless the measures special to a disease provide otherwise (Art. 3).
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

Not established from the sources checked

Scope not established from the sources checked.

National rules on keeping poultry

Conditions apply to this finding

Jurisdiction: Benin

Applies to: Raising animals ('élevage des animaux') and farming in a developed urban zone ('zone urbaine aménagée') are prohibited, except in places provided for that purpose (Law 2022-04, Art. 116). No definition of either term was found in the law as read, and whether keeping a few household hens counts as 'élevage' was not established.

Outside this finding's scope

  • Outside developed urban zones, no national rule on how many chickens a household may keep, or where, was found in the texts read. Silence is not permission.
  • Decentralised local authorities ('collectivités décentralisées') may prescribe by regulation further protective measures for public hygiene within their competences, after the opinion of the supervising authority (Art. 182); local rules were not surveyed.
  • Law 2022-04 is read as published by the Government Secretariat; later amendments were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • Animals may not be left straying on public roads and places (Art. 21).
  • Which places are provided for raising animals in developed urban zones, and who designates them, is not stated in the articles read.

The official wording

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

More countries we've checked

Every country on the map →

Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Benin?
Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: Under Law 2022-14, raising domestic animals ('l'élevage des animaux domestiques') is an agricultural activity by nature (Art. 1), and agricultural production activities may be carried on as a family farm or as an agricultural enterprise (Art. 59). Agricultural enterprises are registered ('immatriculées') with the competent State services and registered ('enregistrées') with the chambers of agriculture (Art. 60); this is a registration of the enterprise itself, not of a flock or its premises. No definition of either form was found in the law's definitions (Art. 1), and whether a household keeping a few hens is an agricultural enterprise was not established. Outside this finding's scope: Law 2022-14 says family farms and agricultural enterprises are constituted in accordance with the laws and regulations (Art. 59); those texts and any registration procedure were not read, so no rule for family farms is stated here. Silence is not permission. No duty to register a flock was found in Decree 2005-637, in the sections of Law 2022-04 read, or in Law 2022-14 Arts 1, 59 and 60 (Art. 60 registers the enterprise itself). This does not prove that none exists. The 2019 pastoral code applies mainly to pastoral livestock of cattle, sheep, goats, camels, horses and donkeys (Law 2018-20, Art. 3). Law 2022-14 (19 July 2022) is read in the Government Secretariat's copy; later amendments were not checked.
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Benin?
The national sources we read set the limits shown under “National rules on keeping poultry” on this page, and don't settle the rest. Check your local rules before you get hens.
Do I have to keep my hens indoors for bird flu in Benin?
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.

PoultryPal tracks your birds, eggs, hatches, sales, and expenses — so you can see exactly how your flock is doing. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play