Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in the Faroe Islands?

The national sources we read don't settle registration or who decides where hens can live. Here's what they do say.

Read from 2 official sources18 passages quotedChecked November 2, 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 the Faroe Islands, 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: Faroe Islands

Applies to: Registration or approval of places where animals, including poultry, are kept.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No Faroese order requiring poultry keepers to register was identified in the texts read on 2026-11-02 (the animal diseases act and logir.fo searches). The act only lets the minister make such rules. This is not a finding that no registration applies.

What the checked sources say

  • The minister may set rules on a central register of animal holdings and animal diseases, and on owners' duty to report their holdings to it (Løgtingslóg nr. 16/2001, § 11(1)-(2)).
  • The minister may also set rules on approval of animal holdings and veterinary supervision of them (§ 12(1)).

Authority: Not established from the sources checked.

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

  • § 11. Landsstýrismaðurin kann áseta reglur um stovnan og rakstur av einari meginskrá fyri djórahald og sjúkur hjá djórum (meginskráin fyri djórasjúkur).

    § 11(1) · Checked

  • Stk. 2. Landsstýrismaðurin kann áseta reglur um skyldur djóraeigarans at lata upplýsingar um djórahald til skránna.

    § 11(2) · Checked

  • § 12. Landsstýrismaðurin kann áseta reglur um góðkenning av djórahaldi og um djóralæknaeftirlit við djórahaldi.

    § 12(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 2026-11-02

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

Rule identified for the scope below

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

Jurisdiction: Faroe Islands

Applies to: Rules and orders the minister may give under the animal diseases act to stop the spread of the diseases in its schedules, which list highly pathogenic avian influenza among the Group A poultry diseases; the measures for animals may include isolation (avbyrging).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No current order is stated here, and no official status page was found. Whether any measure is in force must be checked with Heilsufrøðiliga starvsstovan.

What the checked sources say

  • To prevent, limit or counter the spread of the listed diseases, the minister may set rules and order special measures (Løgtingslóg nr. 16/2001, § 9(1)); for animals these may include, among other listed measures, isolation (§ 9(2)(1)(f)).
  • An owner whose animals are infected, or may be infected, with a listed disease must call a vet at once (§ 5(1)).
  • Decisions by Heilsufrøðiliga starvsstovan on measures may be published on its website (§ 11(9)).
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.

  • § 9. Fyri at beina fyri, hindra, avmarka ella reka aftur vanda fyri spjaðing av zoonotiskum smittuevnum og sjúkum, nevndar í fylgiskjali 1 og 2, kann landsstýrismaðurin áseta reglur og geva boð um, at serstøk tiltøk skulu setast í verk,

    § 9(1) · Checked

  • Stk. 2. Tiltøk sambært stk. 1 kunnu m.a. fevna um: 1) Fyri djór: a) serligar kanningar, heruppií royndartøku og uppskurð av kroppum fyri at gera av sjúkuna, b) umsjón, c) merking, d) viðgerð, e) koppseting, f) avbyrging,

    § 9(2)(1)(a)-(f) · Checked

  • g) serligar treytir fyri avhending, h) avlíving ella serligt slakt og fyribeining, i) nýtslu av djórum til aling ella natúrligan gitnað, j) gjørdan gitnað og eggflutning.

    § 9(2)(1)(g)-(j) · Checked

  • Bólkur A sjúkur fevnir um sjúkur, sum skulu fráboðast myndugleikunum sambært §§ 5, 7 og 8, stk. 2, í lógini.

    Fylgiskjal 1, lead-in · Checked

  • Sjúkur hjá flogfenaði Avian tuberculosis Fowl typhoid Highly pathogenic avian influenza Newcastle disease Pullorum disease

    Fylgiskjal 1, Bólkur A, poultry diseases · Checked

  • § 5. Djóraeigari, sum hevur djór, sum eru smittað, ella sum illgruni kann vera um eru smittað, við sjúku, nevnd í fylgiskjali 1 og 2, skal beinanvegin boðsenda djóralækna.

    § 5(1) · Checked

  • Umframt upplýsingar um aling av fiski í meginskránni fyri djórasjúkur, kunnu avgerðir hjá Heilsufrøðiligu starvsstovuni um tiltøk og hoyringsskriv um tiltøk verða almannakunngjørd á heimasíðuni hjá Heilsufrøðiligu starvsstovuni.

    § 11(9) · Checked

Small-flock welfare minimums

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Faroe Islands

Applies to: Anyone who keeps animals; the act covers birds (Aves).

What the checked sources say

  • Animals may only be kept if they can be kept in a welfare-adequate way (Løgtingslóg nr. 49/2018, § 16(1)).
  • Keepers must provide, indoors and out, an environment suited to the needs of the species and the individual animal, including room to move, rest, shelter and other natural behaviour (§ 17(1)).
  • Keepers must ensure adequate supervision and care, including feed, grazing and water of high quality that meet the animals' needs (§ 18(1)(1)).
  • Keepers must also protect animals against injury, disease, parasites, predators and other dangers, give sick or injured animals suitable treatment or have them put down if needed, limit infection, keep certain animals tame enough to handle where relevant, and stop animals escaping into the wild (§ 18(1)(2)-(6)).

The official wording

  • § 2. Løgtingslógin er galdandi fyri: 1) Súgdjór, t.e. Mammalia. 2) Fiskar, t.e. Agnatha, Chondrichthyes og Osteichthyes. 3) Fuglar, t.e. Aves. 4) Paddur, t.e. Amphibia. 5) Skriðdjór, t.e. Reptilia. 6) Tíggjubeint krabbadjór, t.e. Decapoda. 7) Høgguslokkar, t.e. Cephalopoda. 8) Onnur djór, sum eru í varðveitslu hjá fólki.

    § 2(1) · Checked

  • § 16. Loyvt er bara at halda djór, um djórini kunnu haldast á djóravælferðarliga fullgóðan hátt.

    § 16(1) · Checked

  • § 17. Tann, ið hevur djórahald, skal tryggja, at djórini, inni sum úti, eru í einum umhvørvi, sum fyri trivnað og vælferð er hóskandi til tann tørv, sum bæði djóraslagið og einstaka djórið hevur, undir hesum tryggja, at djórini hava rásarúm og møguleika fyri rørslu, hvíld, skjóli og aðrari natúrligari atferð.

    § 17(1) · Checked

  • § 18. Tann, ið hevur djórahald, skal tryggja, at nøktandi eftirlit og røkt er við djórunum, undir hesum eisini tryggja, 1) at fóður, beiti og vatn hevur høga góðsku, nøktar tørvin hjá djórinum fyri føði og vætu og fremur góða heilsu og vælferð.

    § 18(1), lead-in and item 1 (first sentence) · Checked

  • 2) at djór eru vard móti skaða, sjúku, sníkum, rándjórum og øðrum vandum, 3) at sjúk og skadd djór fáa hóskandi viðgerð og verða avlívað um neyðugt, 4) at smitta verður avmarkað,

    § 18(1), items 2-4 · Checked

  • 5) at ávís djór, har tað er viðkomandi, eru so mikið spøk, at tey kunnu handfarast og røktast á djóravælferðarliga hóskandi hátt, og 6) at djór ikki ótilætlað sleppa út í náttúruna.

    § 18(1), items 5-6 · Checked

National rules on keeping poultry

No rule identified in this research

Jurisdiction: Faroe Islands

Applies to: Rules on whether, where or how many chickens may be kept.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No such rule was identified in the Faroese texts read on 2026-11-02 (the animal welfare act, the animal diseases act and the food act). The welfare act allows keeping animals only where they can be kept in a welfare-adequate way, and lets the minister restrict or ban keeping of certain species by order; no such order for poultry was identified. Building, planning and municipal rules were not researched. This is not a finding that keeping chickens is unrestricted.

The official wording

  • § 16. Loyvt er bara at halda djór, um djórini kunnu haldast á djóravælferðarliga fullgóðan hátt.

    § 16(1) · Checked

  • Stk. 3. Landsstýrismaðurin kann í kunngerð áseta nærri reglur, sum avmarka ella banna hald av ávísum djórasløgum, t.e. species, undirsløgum, t.e. subspecies, ættarsløgum, t.e. race, ella aligreinum.

    § 16(3) · Checked

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

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

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in the Faroe Islands?
Registration: no rule identified. The finding covers: Registration or approval of places where animals, including poultry, are kept. Outside this finding's scope: No Faroese order requiring poultry keepers to register was identified in the texts read on 2026-11-02 (the animal diseases act and logir.fo searches). The act only lets the minister make such rules. This is not a finding that no registration applies.
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in the Faroe Islands?
The national sources we read don't settle it, though they name the bodies shown under “National rules on keeping poultry” on this page. Check your local rules before you get hens.
Do I have to keep my hens indoors for bird flu in the Faroe Islands?
Housing orders come and go, so we never show one as current. We haven't confirmed an official current-status page for it.

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