Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in the Netherlands?

Registration: conditions apply, for the keepers covered below. The national keeping rule, and the bird-flu and welfare rules, follow.

Read from 7 official sources28 passages quotedChecked November 8, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Conditions apply

National keeping rule

Rule with conditions

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in the Netherlands, 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: Netherlands

Applies to: Commercial poultry keepers, egg sellers, and non-commercial keepers who travel with poultry in the EU (RVO and COKZ guidance).

What the checked sources say

  • RVO says a poultry location number (UBN) is needed only for commercial keeping, meaning more than 250 chickens, turkeys, guinea fowl, ducks, geese, quails, pigeons, pheasants, partridges and/or ratites.
  • RVO's reporting page says that with fewer than 250 poultry you are a hobby keeper and need not report movements, and with 250 or more you are a commercial keeper; the two pages word the 250 boundary differently.
  • Non-commercial keepers need a UBN to travel with poultry within the EU, for the animal health certificate; a poultry UBN is requested from AVINED (RVO).
  • COKZ says anyone selling hen eggs to consumers must register the laying hens, whatever the flock size.
  • A fee was not found in the texts read; RVO refers fee questions to AVINED.

Thresholds

  • RVO: more than 250 birds for a poultry UBN; 250 or more for movement reporting.

Authority: RVO / AVINED

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

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: Netherlands

Applies to: Disease-control measures the Minister may order for animals, including housing (ophokken) and shielding, for the whole country or parts of it.

What the checked sources say

  • The Minister may take measures for animals that are infected, suspected or susceptible, or that may spread an animal disease (Wet dieren, art. 5.4(1)); these include an obligation to keep animals separated, housed or shielded (art. 5.4(3)(a)).
  • Measures may be ordered for the whole of the Netherlands or for parts of it (art. 5.1(2)).
  • RVO's Dierziekteviewer shows where infections are and which measures apply. In its rules for hobby keepers, petting farms and zoos, RVO says that within a restriction zone (within 10 kilometres of an outbreak) you may not transport or sell eggs, not even at the roadside; poultry farms have separate measures.
  • This page does not say whether any measure applies now; check RVO's bird-flu page and the Dierziekteviewer.
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: Netherlands

Applies to: Everyone, and keepers of animals in particular (Wet dieren, arts 2.1 and 2.2).

What the checked sources say

  • Do not cause an animal pain or injury, or harm its health or welfare, without a reasonable purpose or beyond what that purpose allows (Wet dieren, art. 2.1(1)).
  • Keepers may not withhold necessary care from their animals (art. 2.2(8)), and everyone must give an animal in need the necessary care (art. 2.1(6)).
  • The Wet dieren version shown is in force from 1 January 2025 to date.

The official wording

  • 1 Het is verboden om zonder redelijk doel of met overschrijding van hetgeen ter bereiking van zodanig doel toelaatbaar is, bij een dier pijn of letsel te veroorzaken dan wel de gezondheid of het welzijn van het dier te benadelen.

    Wet dieren, art. 2.1(1) · Checked

  • 8 Het is houders van dieren verboden aan deze dieren de nodige verzorging te onthouden.

    Wet dieren, art. 2.2(8) · Checked

  • 6 Een ieder verleent een hulpbehoevend dier de nodige zorg.

    Wet dieren, art. 2.1(6) · Checked

  • Geldend van 01-01-2025 t/m heden.

    wetten.overheid.nl, Wet dieren, version line · Checked

National rules on keeping poultry

Conditions apply to this finding

Jurisdiction: Netherlands

Applies to: Keeping a few hens at home.

What the checked sources say

  • Wet dieren art. 2.2(1) bans keeping animals that do not belong to species or categories the Minister has designated, and art. 2.2(3) lets an order in council limit that ban to certain animal classes. Whether the ban reaches hens, and which species are designated, was not established from the texts read (Wet dieren arts 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 5.1 and 5.4).
  • Municipal councils make the by-laws they consider necessary in the municipality's interest (Gemeentewet, art. 149); ask your municipality (gemeente) about local rules.

The official wording

  • De raad maakt de verordeningen die hij in het belang van de gemeente nodig oordeelt.

    Gemeentewet, art. 149 · Checked

  • 1 De bevoegdheid tot regeling en bestuur inzake de huishouding van de gemeente wordt aan het gemeentebestuur overgelaten.

    Gemeentewet, art. 108(1) · Checked

  • Geldend van 01-10-2026 t/m heden.

    wetten.overheid.nl, Gemeentewet, version line · Checked

  • 1 Het is verboden dieren te houden die niet behoren tot door Onze Minister aangewezen diersoorten of diercategorieën.

    Wet dieren, art. 2.2(1) · Checked

  • 3 Bij algemene maatregel van bestuur kan worden geregeld dat het verbod, bedoeld in het eerste lid, slechts van toepassing is op één of meer dierklassen.

    Wet dieren, art. 2.2(3) · Checked

Selling eggs in the Netherlands? →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 the Netherlands?
Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: Commercial poultry keepers, egg sellers, and non-commercial keepers who travel with poultry in the EU (RVO and COKZ guidance). RVO: more than 250 birds for a poultry UBN; 250 or more for movement reporting. Authority: RVO / AVINED.
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in the Netherlands?
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 Netherlands?
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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