Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Montenegro?

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

Read from 6 official sources39 passages quotedChecked November 2, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Registration required

National keeping rule

Rule with conditions

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in Montenegro, 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: Montenegro

Applies to: All holdings where animals are reared or kept, including poultry, which the identification law counts as 'other animals' (art. 4 point 3); a holding for other animals is any building or enclosed or open space where they are kept (point 5c).

Outside this finding's scope

  • The identification and veterinary laws were read in consolidated texts posted by the food agency in 2025 (amendments to 2015 and 2018); later changes were not checked. No size threshold was found.

What the checked sources say

  • Registration is mandatory for all holdings where animals are reared or kept (identification law, art. 2).
  • Holdings of poultry and bee colonies are registered under the Ministry's regulation, and their keepers must keep a holding register (art. 14c).
  • Holdings are registered by entry in the Central Register kept by the Administration (art. 15).
  • The veterinary law requires keepers to register their holding and mark and register animals in accordance with the law (art. 51(1) point 7).
  • A laying-hen holding, for the laying-hen register, is a household, building or outdoor area where laying hens stay or are kept, permanently or from time to time (rulebook 36/2018 and 2/2023, art. 2). No Ministry rule for other poultry holdings was found.

Authority: Uprava za bezbjednost hrane, veterinu i fitosanitarne poslove (Administration for Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Affairs)

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 2026-11-02

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: Montenegro

Applies to: Avian influenza measures for poultry (birds reared or kept for meat, table eggs and other products) on holdings under suspicion and in infected areas (2015 avian influenza rulebook, arts 3, 4 and 14).

Outside this finding's scope

  • The rulebook was read as published in 2015 (posted by the food agency in 2023) and the veterinary law in a consolidated text with amendments to 2018 (posted by the food agency in 2025); later amendments were not checked. This page does not say whether any bird-flu measure applies now.

What the checked sources say

  • On suspicion of avian influenza the veterinary inspector (official veterinarian) puts the holding under official supervision and orders listed measures, one of which is confining all poultry and other birds on the holding away from other holdings' birds, with steps against contact with wild birds (rulebook, art. 4 point 3).
  • After highly pathogenic avian influenza is confirmed, an infected area of at least 3 km radius is set around the holding (art. 12(1)); on holdings in it, listed measures include keeping poultry and other birds indoors on their holding (art. 14 point 4).
  • The Administration sets the boundaries of infected and endangered areas (veterinary law, art. 60(3)); the Ministry may order measures beyond the special preventive measures listed in art. 55(1) (art. 55(2)).
  • The Administration's avian influenza page gives general information and posted documents; it is not a current-status page, so ask the Administration whether any measure applies now.
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.

  • U slučaju sumnje na avijarnu influencu veterinarski inspektor (u daljem tekstu: službeni veterinar) bez odlaganja stavlja gazdinstvo pod službeni nadzor, sprovodi epizootiološko ispitivanje i mjere radi potvrđivanja ili isključivanja prisustva avijarne influence u skladu sa Prilogom 1, koji je sastavni dio ovog pravilnika i naređuje sljedeće mjere:

    Avian influenza rulebook, art. 4 (lead-in) · Checked

  • 3) zatvaranje i držanje sve živine i drugih ptica u objekte na gazdinstvu ili drugim mjestima na gazdinstvu tako da nemaju kontakta sa ostalom živinom ili drugim pticama na drugim gazdinstvima i preduzimanje primjerenih mjera za spriječavanje kontakta sa divljim pticama;

    Avian influenza rulebook, art. 4 point 3 · Checked

  • (1) Nakon potvrđivanja VPAI na gazdinstvu, određuje se: 1) zaraženo područje u krugu poluprečnika od najmanje 3 km oko gazdinstva; i

    Avian influenza rulebook, art. 12(1) point 1 · Checked

  • Na gazdinstvima u zaraženom području sprovode se sljedeće mjere:

    Avian influenza rulebook, art. 14 (lead-in) · Checked

  • 4) držanje živine i drugih ptica u zatvorenim prostorijama na njihovom gazdinstvu tako da se onemogući kontakt sa živinom na drugim gazdinstvima i preduzimanje primjerenih mjera za sprječavanje kontakta sa divljim pticama;

    Avian influenza rulebook, art. 14 point 4 · Checked

  • 3) živina su sve ptice koje se uzgajaju ili drže zatvorene radi proizvodnje mesa, konzumnih jaja i ostalih proizvoda i za obnovu populacije divljih ptica;

    Avian influenza rulebook, art. 3 point 3 · Checked

  • (3) Granice zaraženog, odnosno ugroženog područja utvrđuje Uprava, u zavisnosti od prirode bolesti, konfiguracije terena, bioloških faktora, sprovođenja mjera kontrole zdravlja životinja, biosigurnosnih mjera i načina uzgoja životinja.

    Zakon o veterinarstvu, art. 60(3) · Checked

  • (2) Ministarstvo, pored mjera iz stava 1 ovog člana, može narediti i sprovođenje mjera koje nijesu obuhvaćene stavom 1 ovog člana, kao i uslove i način njihovog sprovođenja u skladu sa prirodom bolesti i stepenom opasnosti.

    Zakon o veterinarstvu, art. 55(2) · Checked

  • Pravilnik je objavljen u "Službenom listu CG", br. 70/2015 od 16.12.2015. godine, stupio je na snagu 24.12.2015,

    Avian influenza rulebook, publication note · Checked

  • Uprava za bezbjednost hrane, veterinu i fitosanitarne poslove intenzivno prati epizootiološku situaciju po pitanju ove bolesti i u skladu sa analizom rizika preduzima sve neophodne preventivne mjere

    Food agency page 'Avijarna influenca', section on the situation and surveillance · Checked

Small-flock welfare minimums

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Montenegro

Applies to: All animals, in particular animals kept for food and other production purposes (welfare law, art. 2); the keeper duties in arts 11-15 sit in the chapter on animals kept for production.

Outside this finding's scope

  • Arts 11-15 do not apply to wild animals, animals for competitions, shows or cultural or sporting events, laboratory animals or invertebrates (art. 15a).
  • The laying-hen premises rulebook does not apply to premises with fewer than 350 laying hens or to breeding flocks (rulebook 27/2016 and 75/2019, art. 2).
  • The welfare law was read in a consolidated text posted by the food agency in 2023 (amendments to 2015); later changes were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • Keepers must treat an animal with the care of a good keeper and give it living conditions suited to its species, age, needs, behaviour and health (art. 4).
  • Keepers must provide food and water, care and health protection, housing with enough light, warmth and space, hygiene, and protection from weather and predators (art. 11(1)).
  • Animals kept enclosed must be checked by the keeper at least once a day (art. 11).

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

Conditions apply to this finding

Jurisdiction: Montenegro

Applies to: Who may keep animals under the national welfare law, with holding registration under the identification law.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No national rule on where hens may be kept in towns was found in the texts read (welfare, identification and veterinary laws). Municipal rules were not researched; ask your municipality whether a local rule applies.
  • Local government prescribes the conditions for keeping pets (welfare law, art. 27); whether hens kept as pets fall under that power was not established.
  • The welfare law was read in a consolidated text posted by the food agency in 2023 (amendments to 2015) and the identification law in a consolidated text posted in 2025 (amendments to 2015); later changes were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • Anyone who meets the welfare law's conditions for protecting animals' life and welfare has the right to keep animals (art. 4(1)).
  • A keeper may not be under 16, and an animal may not be sold or given to such a person (art. 11(3), in the chapter on production animals).
  • Every holding where animals are kept must be registered (identification law, art. 2).
  • Before moving or marketing animals within Montenegro, the keeper must obtain a certificate of the animals' health and origin, for a fee; the Ministry prescribes the species it is issued for (veterinary law, art. 116; consolidated text to 2018). Which bird species need it was not checked.

The official wording

Selling eggs in Montenegro? →License, 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 Montenegro?
Registration: required. The finding covers: All holdings where animals are reared or kept, including poultry, which the identification law counts as 'other animals' (art. 4 point 3); a holding for other animals is any building or enclosed or open space where they are kept (point 5c). Outside this finding's scope: The identification and veterinary laws were read in consolidated texts posted by the food agency in 2025 (amendments to 2015 and 2018); later changes were not checked. No size threshold was found. Authority: Uprava za bezbjednost hrane, veterinu i fitosanitarne poslove (Administration for Food Safety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Affairs).
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Montenegro?
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 Montenegro?
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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