Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Cameroon?

Registration: conditions apply, for the keepers covered below, under Decree 75/527 as reproduced in the livestock ministry's 2013 compilation (later amendments not checked). The national keeping rule, and the bird-flu and welfare rules, follow.

Read from 3 official sources29 passages quotedChecked October 29, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Conditions apply

National keeping rule

Rule with conditions

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Cruelty rule; no care standards found

A sourced reading of national law in Cameroon, 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: Cameroon

Applies to: Operators of intensive, commercial farms of small livestock, poultry or rabbits (Decree 75/527 Art. 1(c)).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No registration duty for a household flock that is not an intensive commercial farm was found in the texts read (Decree 75/527 Arts 1, 7, 8; the law of 16 April 2001). This does not prove that none exists.
  • Decree 75/527 is read as reproduced in the livestock ministry's 2013 compilation; later amendments were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • Every operator of such a farm needs a creation authorisation and a certificate of conformity (Decree 75/527 Art. 8, as reproduced in the 2013 compilation); the certificate is valid for one year and is renewable each year (Art. 7).
  • Separately from registration, owners and keepers of animals that have, or are suspected of having, a legally contagious disease must declare them to the administrative authority and the nearest veterinary authority (law of 16 April 2001, Art. 5(1), as reproduced in the 2013 compilation).

Authority: Ministère de l'Elevage, des Pêches et des Industries Animales (MINEPIA)

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 2026-10-29

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

Conditions apply to this finding

Uses housing orders in this scope: Yes, according to the checked evidence, within the limits listed under “Outside this finding’s scope” below.

Jurisdiction: Cameroon

Applies to: Animals within a perimeter that the minister in charge of veterinary services declares infected with a legally contagious disease; highly pathogenic avian influenza was added to that list of diseases in 2006.

Outside this finding's scope

  • This page does not say whether any order applies now. Orders of 2006 declared and delimited bird-flu zones, and a 2012 order lifted the bird and bird-product movement bans imposed after the 2006 outbreak; these are past measures.
  • No official page showing current bird-flu measures was identified in the sources read.
  • The law of 16 April 2001 and the 2006 and 2012 orders are read as reproduced in the livestock ministry's 2013 compilation; later amendments were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • When a legally contagious disease appears, the minister in charge of veterinary services takes an order declaring infection, which can apply, within a perimeter, isolation, guarding, confinement, visits and a census of animals, and temporary bans on fairs, markets and the movement of susceptible animals (law of 16 April 2001, Art. 7, as reproduced in the 2013 compilation).
  • Animals with a legally contagious disease must be declared and isolated (Art. 4(1)), and in the chapter on avian plague and pseudo-plague, eggs of sick birds may not be marketed (Art. 72); both are from the law of 16 April 2001 as reproduced in the 2013 compilation.
  • A joint order of 15 March 2006 added highly pathogenic avian influenza to the list of legally contagious, notifiable diseases across Cameroon (Art. 1, as reproduced in the 2013 compilation).
  • For current measures, check with the MINEPIA veterinary services.
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: Cameroon

Applies to: Anyone who, without necessity, ill-treats a domestic or tamed animal or one living in captivity (Penal Code Art. 268(1)).

Outside this finding's scope

  • The Penal Code is read as promulgated in 2016; later amendments were not checked against Art. 268.
  • No positive care standards (feed, water, shelter) for poultry were found in the national texts read.

What the checked sources say

  • Ill-treating a domestic, tamed or captive animal without necessity is punishable by 15 days to 3 months in prison and a fine of 5,000 to 20,000 francs, or either penalty (Penal Code Art. 268(1)); the court may also deprive the offender of ownership of the animal (Art. 268(2)).
  • Decree 76/420 also bars knowingly and without necessity ill-treating domestic animals, for example by blows, wounds, hobbles or dangerous tethering (Art. 3, as reproduced in the 2013 compilation).

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

Conditions apply to this finding

Jurisdiction: Cameroon

Applies to: Animals inside urban areas and in public places and roads (Decree 76/420 Art. 2).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No national rule on how many chickens may be kept, or where, was found in the national texts read. Local rules were not surveyed.
  • A hygiene order of 1 October 1937, made for the territory then under French mandate and reproduced in extracts in the 2013 compilation, allowed ducks, turkeys and gallinaceous birds (such as chickens) in towns only if the coops were of a model approved by the hygiene service and the birds did not stray onto the public road or neighbouring compounds (Art. 13); whether it still applies, and where, was not established.
  • The national texts' silence on poultry numbers is not permission to keep chickens.

What the checked sources say

  • Animals may not stray inside urban areas or in public places and roads (Decree 76/420 Art. 2, as reproduced in the 2013 compilation).

The official wording

Selling eggs in Cameroon? →Licence, small-flock line, markets and cartons, on their own page.Selling: Registration

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Cameroon?
Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: Operators of intensive, commercial farms of small livestock, poultry or rabbits (Decree 75/527 Art. 1(c)). Outside this finding's scope: No registration duty for a household flock that is not an intensive commercial farm was found in the texts read (Decree 75/527 Arts 1, 7, 8; the law of 16 April 2001). This does not prove that none exists. Decree 75/527 is read as reproduced in the livestock ministry's 2013 compilation; later amendments were not checked. Authority: Ministère de l'Elevage, des Pêches et des Industries Animales (MINEPIA).
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Cameroon?
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 Cameroon?
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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