Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Mali?

Registration: conditions apply, for the keepers covered below, under Law 2012-014 on animal welfare as published in the Official Journal of 2 March 2012 (later amendments not checked). What we found on bird flu, welfare and the keeping rule follows, including what we couldn't establish.

Read from 5 official sources22 passages quotedChecked October 30, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Conditions apply

National keeping rule

Not established

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in Mali, 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: Mali

Applies to: Anyone who runs an animal trade, houses animals for payment, raises animals for commercial purposes, rents them out, uses them for transport or exhibits them commercially must ask the directorate of the animal-health services for authorisation (Law 2012-014, Art. 7). No definition of raising 'à des fins commerciales' (for commercial purposes) was found in the law's definitions (Art. 3), and whether a household selling eggs from a small flock is covered was not established.

Outside this finding's scope

  • Art. 7 does not apply to farmers who trade animals from their own holding, nor to travelling circuses authorised in their home country (Art. 7, para. 2).
  • No duty to register a non-commercial flock was found in Law 2012-014 or Law 2011-028. This does not prove that none exists.
  • Law 2012-014 is read as published in the Official Journal of 2 March 2012; later amendments were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • Separately, producers of animal-origin foodstuffs are subject to a declaration-of-activity regime on conditions set by regulation (Law 2011-028, Art. 11); those conditions were not found.

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: Mali

Applies to: No power to order birds to be housed or kept indoors because of bird flu was found in the texts read. The 2006 decree amending Decree 01-339 lists highly pathogenic avian influenza and Newcastle disease in all poultry species, makes vaccination against both compulsory throughout Mali, and provides for sanitary slaughter of birds by ministerial order.

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 01-339 of 9 August 2001, which the 2006 decree amends, was not read; it may contain further measures.

What the checked sources say

  • Vaccination against highly pathogenic avian influenza and Newcastle disease is compulsory throughout the Republic (Decree 06-412, Art. 3, new text of Art. 34 of Decree 01-339).
  • Sanitary slaughter of birds is ordered by order of the minister in charge of livestock on a reasoned proposal of the National Director of Veterinary Services, with compensation of owners on terms set by a joint order of the livestock and finance ministers (Decree 06-412, Art. 4).
  • Mali is a UEMOA member state (Mali Government Secretariat, regional-law page). Under UEMOA Regulation 007/2007, after a notifiable disease is found the competent national administrative authority, on proposal of the zoosanitary authority, issues an act declaring infection and applying the prescribed measures in a set perimeter (Art. 66); the member state concerned organises appropriate protection measures on its territory (Art. 67). Archived copy of the Mali Government Secretariat file, 28 April 2026.
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: Mali

Applies to: Anyone who keeps an animal, has it in their care or looks after it (Law 2012-014, Art. 5). The law's domestic animals include domestic poultry, namely hens, guinea fowl, geese and domestic ducks (Art. 3), and it covers husbandry and housing practices (Art. 2).

Outside this finding's scope

  • Law 2012-014 is read as published in the Official Journal of 2 March 2012; later amendments were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • A keeper must give the animal food and care appropriate to its species and housing adapted to its physiological and behavioural needs (Art. 5).
  • The animal must be placed in living conditions that meet its physiological, behavioural and health needs without needless pain or stress (Art. 4).
  • Depriving an animal of the food and, where appropriate, the water it needs is punished by a fine of 2,000 to 18,000 francs (Art. 16); serious cruelty to a domestic, tame or captive animal without necessity is punished by 11 days to 3 months' imprisonment (Art. 18).

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

Not established from the sources checked

Scope not established from the sources checked.

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

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Mali?
Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: Anyone who runs an animal trade, houses animals for payment, raises animals for commercial purposes, rents them out, uses them for transport or exhibits them commercially must ask the directorate of the animal-health services for authorisation (Law 2012-014, Art. 7). No definition of raising 'à des fins commerciales' (for commercial purposes) was found in the law's definitions (Art. 3), and whether a household selling eggs from a small flock is covered was not established. Outside this finding's scope: Art. 7 does not apply to farmers who trade animals from their own holding, nor to travelling circuses authorised in their home country (Art. 7, para. 2). No duty to register a non-commercial flock was found in Law 2012-014 or Law 2011-028. This does not prove that none exists. Law 2012-014 is read as published in the Official Journal of 2 March 2012; later amendments were not checked.
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Mali?
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 Mali?
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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