Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Latvia?

Registration is required for the keepers covered below. The national keeping rule, and the bird-flu and welfare rules, follow.

Read from 6 official sources53 passages quotedChecked October 29, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Registration required

National keeping rule

Rule identified

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in Latvia, 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

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Latvia

Applies to: Animal operators, as the term 'operator' is used in Regulation (EU) 2016/429 Art. 4(24), keeping farm animals including poultry (Cabinet Regulation No. 116, points 3.6, 18 and 20¹); animal owners (Animal Protection Law, art. 6).

What the checked sources say

  • To register a herd and holding, the operator gives the Rural Support Service the information required by Art. 84(1) of Regulation 2016/429, the holding's address and its geographic coordinates (Cabinet Regulation No. 116, point 18).
  • An operator keeping poultry reports every year, by the end of July, the number of each poultry species as at 1 July, with the number kept for breeding, their category and production type (point 20¹).
  • Changes to the registered data, or stopping, are reported within seven days (point 19). The Rural Support Service offers notification forms in its electronic system and the 'Dzīvnieku reģistrs' mobile app (point 17).
  • Animal owners must make sure their animals are registered and marked as the rules require (Animal Protection Law, art. 6).
  • A fee was not found in the points read.

Thresholds

  • No flock-size threshold appears in the points read (Cabinet Regulation No. 116, points 3, 6 and 17-20¹).

Exemptions and their limits

None found in the points read (Cabinet Regulation No. 116, points 3, 6 and 17-20¹).

Authority: Lauku atbalsta dienests (Rural Support Service)

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

  • 3.6. dzīvnieku operators – atbilstoši regulas 2016/429 4. panta 24. punktā lietotajam terminam "operators".

    MK noteikumi Nr. 116, 3.6. apakšpunkts · Checked

  • 18. Lai reģistrētu ganāmpulku un novietni, dzīvnieku operators paziņo dienestam:

    MK noteikumi Nr. 116, 18. punkts, lead-in · Checked

  • 18.1. informāciju par lauksaimniecības dzīvniekiem atbilstoši regulas 2016/429 84. panta 1. punktam, kā arī novietnes faktiskās atrašanās vietas adresi un ģeogrāfiskās koordinātas (ģeogrāfiskais platums un garums);

    MK noteikumi Nr. 116, 18.1. apakšpunkts · Checked

  • 20. 1 Dzīvnieku operators, kas tur mājputnus, katru gadu līdz jūlija beigām paziņo dienestam informāciju pēc stāvokļa attiecīgā gada 1. jūlijā par katras mājputnu sugas skaitu, norādot arī vaislai paredzēto mājputnu skaitu, kategoriju un ražošanas veidu.

    MK noteikumi Nr. 116, 20.¹ punkts · Checked

  • 19. Ja šo noteikumu 18. punktā minētie ganāmpulka vai novietnes reģistra dati ir mainījušies vai ganāmpulks un novietne izbeidz savu darbību, dzīvnieku operators septiņu dienu laikā pēc izmaiņām vai darbības izbeigšanas informē par to dienestu.

    MK noteikumi Nr. 116, 19. punkts, first sentence · Checked

  • 17. Lai dzīvnieku operators šajos noteikumos prasīto informāciju varētu paziņot dienestam noteiktajā termiņā, dienests nodrošina paziņojuma sagatavi elektroniskajā paziņošanas sistēmā vai klientu mobilajā lietotnē "Dzīvnieku reģistrs",

    MK noteikumi Nr. 116, 17. punkts, opening words · Checked

  • 6. Lauksaimniecības dzīvnieku, ganāmpulku un novietņu reģistrs ir dienesta informācijas sistēmas "Lauku atbalsta dienesta informācijas sistēma" (turpmāk – sistēma) sastāvdaļa.

    MK noteikumi Nr. 116, 6. punkts · Checked

  • Numurs: 116 Pieņemts: 25.02.2025. Stājas spēkā: 27.02.2025. Publicēts: Latvijas Vēstnesis , 40, 26.02.2025.

    MK noteikumi Nr. 116, portal record (Tiesību akta pase) · Checked

  • 6.pants. Dzīvnieka īpašnieks nodrošina dzīvnieka reģistrēšanu un apzīmēšanu normatīvajos aktos noteiktajā kārtībā.

    Dzīvnieku aizsardzības likums, 6. pants, first sentence · Checked

Bird-flu housing orders

Current status needs rechecking

Check the official current-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 2026-11-08

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.

Jurisdiction: Latvia

Applies to: Keepers of poultry during a high-pathogenic avian influenza restriction period set by the Food and Veterinary Service (Cabinet Regulation No. 405, points 188²²-188²⁴).

What the checked sources say

  • PVD may, taking account of the disease situation and surveillance results, set a restriction period in which, among other things, keeping poultry outdoors, keeping ducks and geese with other poultry, using outdoor water bodies for poultry and giving poultry water from surface waters that wild birds can reach are banned (Cabinet Regulation No. 405, point 188²²).
  • In that period PVD may, after assessing the disease situation and your biosecurity, allow poultry to be kept outdoors if they are protected from contact with wild birds (for example under a shelter or a horizontal cover) and you feed and water them indoors or under a shelter large enough to keep wild birds away from their feed and water (point 188²³).
  • Poultry markets, shows, competitions and cultural events are banned in that period unless PVD allows them (point 188²⁴).
  • PVD publishes a high-risk period in the official gazette Latvijas Vēstnesis (Cabinet Regulation No. 291, annex 2, point 7).
  • This page does not say whether a restriction period or any outbreak zone applies now; check PVD.
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: Latvia

Applies to: Every animal owner (Animal Protection Law, arts 1 and 5(2)) and any keeper entrusted with or holding the animal (art. 5(4)).

What the checked sources say

  • Owners must care for the animal's health and welfare according to its species, age and physiology, and give it keeping conditions, equipment, feed and water suited to its physiological and behavioural needs (art. 5(2)).
  • Animals need physical activity, or enough room where their movement is restricted (art. 5(2)); these duties also bind a keeper (art. 5(4)).
  • Cruel treatment, including leaving an animal without care, is prohibited (art. 4(1)). A sick or injured farm animal must be cared for at once and a practising vet called (art. 14).
  • The Cabinet of Ministers sets the welfare requirements for each farm animal species (art. 10); that regulation was not read, and numeric space minimums for small flocks were not found in the articles read (arts 1-14).

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Latvia

Applies to: Owners and keepers who keep poultry and captive birds (Cabinet Regulation No. 291, point 4²), at holdings of poultry and captive birds as defined in Regulation (EU) 2016/429 (point 2.1).

What the checked sources say

  • Keep, feed and water poultry in closed premises or an area under a waterproof roof with enclosed sides, so wild waterfowl cannot get in, and let them out only onto pastures or runs with enclosed sides (Cabinet Regulation No. 291, annex 2, points 5.1-5.2).
  • Poultry and captive waterfowl may not be let onto natural water bodies, and feed and litter must be stored where wild birds cannot reach them (annex 2, points 4 and 6).
  • Point 3 releases owners who keep poultry for eggs and meat for their own consumption from drawing up and carrying out a biosecurity plan (points 3 and 3.4). Point 4² separately requires every owner or keeper of poultry to follow the annex 2 measures and, in the text read, makes no exception for own-consumption flocks; PVD's page for poultry keepers lists annex 2 points 5.1 and 5.2 as measures to follow.
  • Your municipal council issues binding regulations, including on maintaining territories and buildings for sanitary cleanliness, and the spatial plan (Local Government Law, arts 10(1), 44 and 45(1)); whether your council limits keeping poultry was not checked.

The official wording

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

More countries we've checked

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Latvia?
Registration: required. The finding covers: Animal operators, as the term 'operator' is used in Regulation (EU) 2016/429 Art. 4(24), keeping farm animals including poultry (Cabinet Regulation No. 116, points 3.6, 18 and 20¹); animal owners (Animal Protection Law, art. 6). No flock-size threshold appears in the points read (Cabinet Regulation No. 116, points 3, 6 and 17-20¹). Exemptions: none found in the points read. Authority: Lauku atbalsta dienests (Rural Support Service).
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Latvia?
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 Latvia?
Housing orders come and go, so we never show one as current. This page links the official status page to check today.

Allowed where you live? Then keep the records.

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