Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Malta?

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 3 official sources20 passages quotedChecked October 29, 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 Malta, 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: Malta

Applies to: Owners and keepers of live animals, among others listed in the Veterinary Services Act (Cap. 437 art. 35(1)).

What the checked sources say

  • Owners and keepers of live animals shall declare their activity to the veterinary services, as the Director may determine (art. 35(1)(a)).
  • They shall identify and register animals and declare their movements, and keep an individual register for each holding they are responsible for (art. 35(1)(c)(iii)-(iv)).
  • How the Director applies the declaration to small poultry flocks was not established; ask the Director of Veterinary Services (Department of Veterinary Services, Cap. 437 art. 2).
  • A fee was not found in the article read (art. 35).

Thresholds

  • No flock-size threshold appears in art. 35 of the Veterinary Services Act.

Authority: Director of Veterinary Services (veterinary services)

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

  • The owner, the keeper, the dealer or the importer, the consignee, the carrier, the retailer or, where applicable any other

    Cap. 437, art. 35(1), opening words · Checked

  • (a) shall declare his activity to the veterinary services, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, as the Director may determine;

    Cap. 437, art. 35(1)(a) · Checked

  • (c) shall observe any obligation imposed under this Act relating to contagious diseases, and implement the rules relating thereto;

    Cap. 437, art. 35(1)(c), lead-in · Checked

  • (iii) identify and register animals, and declare the movements of animals for which they are responsible;

    Cap. 437, art. 35(1)(c)(iii) · Checked

  • (iv) keep individual registers for each holding for which they are responsible;

    Cap. 437, art. 35(1)(c)(iv) · Checked

  • ''Director'' means the Director Veterinary Services who shall be a warranted Veterinary Surgeon or an officer nominated by the Food Safety and Security Authority

    Cap. 437, art. 2, 'Director', opening words · Checked

  • ''Department'' means the Department of Veterinary Services;

    Cap. 437, art. 2, 'Department' · 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 2026-10-29

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: Malta

Applies to: Obligations the veterinary services impose on a suspected outbreak, and protection zones (Veterinary Services Act, arts 18 and 35).

What the checked sources say

  • On a suspected outbreak of a disease on the World Organisation for Animal Health list, owners and keepers must observe the obligations the veterinary services impose, including restrictions on moving animals and people (art. 35(1)(c)(ii)).
  • On an outbreak of a disease listed in the Act's Fifth Schedule, the veterinary services define protection zones (art. 18(2)).
  • Whether these powers are used to order poultry indoors was not established in the articles read (arts 18 and 35).
  • This page does not say whether any bird-flu order applies now; ask the Director of Veterinary Services (Department of Veterinary Services, Cap. 437 art. 2).
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.

  • (c) shall observe any obligation imposed under this Act relating to contagious diseases, and implement the rules relating thereto;

    Cap. 437, art. 35(1)(c), lead-in · Checked

  • observe the obligations imposed by the veterinary services, in the case of a suspected outbreak of any of the diseases referred to in the list of notifiable terrestrial and aquatic animal diseases issued by the World Organization for Animal Health including any obligation concerning the restriction of movement of animals and humans,

    Cap. 437, art. 35(1)(c)(ii), opening words · Checked

  • In the event of an outbreak of any of the diseases listed in the Fifth Schedule, the veterinary services shall define protection zones

    Cap. 437, art. 18(2), opening words · Checked

  • financial contributions and compensatory measures within the framework of an emergency, as declared by order of the Minister;

    Cap. 437, art. 18(1)(a) · Checked

  • ''Director'' means the Director Veterinary Services who shall be a warranted Veterinary Surgeon or an officer nominated by the Food Safety and Security Authority

    Cap. 437, art. 2, 'Director', opening words · Checked

Small-flock welfare minimums

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Malta

Applies to: Any person who keeps an animal or agrees to look after one (Animal Welfare Act art. 8(3)-(4)).

What the checked sources say

  • Whoever keeps or agrees to look after an animal is responsible for its health and welfare (art. 8(3)), and must take reasonable steps to meet its needs as good practice requires: a suitable environment, a healthy diet, normal behaviour, suitable housing, separation from other animals where needed, and protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease (art. 8(4)).
  • No animal may be caused unnecessary pain, suffering or distress, and no animal may be abandoned (art. 8(2)).
  • Numeric space minimums for small flocks were not found in the articles read (arts 7 and 8).

The official wording

  • No animal shall be caused any unnecessary pain, suffering or distress or subjected to any activities which are not in his nature. No animal shall be abandoned:

    Cap. 439, art. 8(2), opening words · Checked

  • (3) Any person who keeps any animal or who agrees to look after an animal shall be responsible for its health and welfare.

    Cap. 439, art. 8(3) · Checked

  • (4) Any person shall take such steps as are reasonable in all the circumstances to ensure that the needs of an animal for which he is responsible or for which he agrees to look after shall be met to the extent required by good practice

    Cap. 439, art. 8(4), opening words · Checked

  • For the purposes of this subarticle, animal needs include the provision of suitable environment, provision of a healthy diet, allowance for the animal to exhibit normal behavioural patterns, provision of suitable housing, segregation from other animals where necessary and protection from pain, suffering, injury and diseases.

    Cap. 439, art. 8(4), second sentence · Checked

National rules on keeping poultry

Not established from the sources checked

Jurisdiction: Malta

Applies to: National rules on which animals may be kept, and where.

What the checked sources say

  • The Animal Welfare Act says animals shall not be kept unless they belong to species or categories specified in regulations (art. 7(1)); whether those regulations list chickens was not established.
  • The Code of Police Laws art. 126(1) requires a sanitary-authority licence to keep bovine animals, pigs, goats, sheep, horses, mules or donkeys within the limits mentioned in art. 125(2), but art. 125 now reads 'Repealed by XXV.2001.50', so where that licence rule applies is unclear; poultry are not named, and that is not a permission.
  • Planning and local council rules on keeping hens were not checked.

The official wording

  • (1) Animals shall not (a) be kept;

    Cap. 439, art. 7(1)(a) · Checked

  • unless they belong in each case to the species or categories of animals specified in regulations prescribed.

    Cap. 439, art. 7(1), closing words · Checked

  • 126. (1) No person shall, without a licence from the sanitary authority, the duration of which shall not exceed one year, keep on any premises within the limits mentioned in sub-article (2) of the last preceding article, any animal of the bovine species, or any pig, goat, sheep, horse, mule or donkey.

    Cap. 10, art. 126(1) · Checked

  • 125. (Repealed by XXV.2001.50.)

    Cap. 10, art. 125 · Checked

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

More countries we've checked

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Malta?
Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: Owners and keepers of live animals, among others listed in the Veterinary Services Act (Cap. 437 art. 35(1)). No flock-size threshold appears in art. 35 of the Veterinary Services Act. Authority: Director of Veterinary Services (veterinary services).
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Malta?
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 Malta?
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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