Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Paraguay?

In Paraguay, national law gives municipalities the function of regulating and controlling the conditions for keeping domestic animals in urban areas. Here's who decides, how to check, and what national law itself settles.

Read from 3 official sources15 passages quotedChecked October 29, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Not established

Where hens can live

Set locally

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

No rule identified
Set locally

Who decides where hens can live

The national law we read gives a named local body its own powers over where hens can live. What the checked sources say:

  • Municipalities, within their territory, have the function of regulating and controlling the conditions for keeping domestic animals in urban areas (Ley 3966/2010 Art. 12(7)(d)).
  • Ask your municipality whether its ordinances limit keeping chickens.

No national rule on how many chickens may be kept, or where, was found in the texts read. Silence is not permission. No municipal ordinance was read; later amendments to Ley 3966 were not checked.

Registration: no rule identified in the national sources we read.

The law's own words are quoted under national rules on keeping poultry below.

How to check: Look up the local rules where you live (the ordinances, bylaws or zoning of the body named here), or ask that office, before you get hens.

A sourced reading of national law in Paraguay, 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

No rule identified in this research

Jurisdiction: Paraguay

Applies to: Keepers of poultry; SENACSA has the function of registering establishments and livestock populations of economically and sanitarily important species (Ley 2426/2004, text as promulgated).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No duty for a backyard keeper to register was found in the sections read (Ley 2426/2004 Arts. 6-9, 45-48). This does not prove that none exists.
  • SENACSA's own resolutions on poultry establishments were not read: its website did not answer.

What the checked sources say

  • SENACSA's functions include registering establishments and livestock populations of the species that are economically and sanitarily important for the country (Ley 2426/2004 Art. 8(i)).
  • Ask SENACSA whether your flock must be registered.

Authority: Servicio Nacional de Calidad y Salud Animal (SENACSA)

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

  • d) registrar y fiscalizar a los establecimientos ganaderos e industriales, los productos, subproductos de origen animal, los alimentos e insumos de uso veterinario.

    Ley 2426/2004, Art. 7, specific objective (d) · Checked

  • i) registrar establecimientos y población ganadera de las especies animales económica y sanitariamente importantes para el país y puntos de comercialización de animales;

    Ley 2426/2004, Art. 8(i) · Checked

  • Fecha de Promulgación: 28-07-2004

    BACN, Ley N° 2426, record header · 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.

No rule identified in this research

This does not establish that no authority can order poultry to be housed or confined.

Uses housing orders in this scope: Not established from the sources checked.

Jurisdiction: Paraguay

Applies to: Every keeper of animals covered by the SENACSA law (Ley 2426/2004, text as promulgated).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No standing order requiring backyard flocks to be housed was identified in the texts read. This page does not say whether any measure applies now.

What the checked sources say

  • Every keeper of animals must strictly comply with the sanitary measures SENACSA sets (Art. 45); a keeper is anyone who possesses, owns or holds animals covered by the law (Art. 46).
  • SENACSA may declare areas under interdiction and quarantine, declare quarantine where outbreaks are confirmed and apply the measures needed, and temporarily interdict affected and neighbouring areas to keep sick animals isolated (Arts. 8(q), 47(c), 48(a)).
  • For current measures, check with SENACSA.
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.

  • q) declarar, dentro del territorio nacional, áreas bajo interdicción y cuarentena;

    Ley 2426/2004, Art. 8(q) · Checked

  • Artículo 45.- Todo tenedor de animales estará obligado a cumplir estrictamente las medidas sanitarias dispuesta por SENACSA.

    Ley 2426/2004, Art. 45 · Checked

  • Artículo 46.- Para la aplicación de esta Ley, se considerará tenedor a toda persona física o jurídica poseedora, propietaria, depositaria o que bajo cualquier título tenga en su poder animales afectados por esta Ley.

    Ley 2426/2004, Art. 46 · Checked

  • c) declarar en cuarentena las áreas en que se hubiera constatado la existencia de brotes de las enfermedades y aplicar las medidas sanitarias que el caso requiera;

    Ley 2426/2004, Art. 47(c) · Checked

  • a) interdictar temporalmente áreas públicas o privadas afectadas y colindantes, a fin de mantener aislados a los animales enfermos;

    Ley 2426/2004, Art. 48(a) · Checked

Small-flock welfare minimums

No rule identified in this research

Jurisdiction: Paraguay

Applies to: Ley 7513/2025 on animal welfare and protection, promulgated on 19 August 2025, which applies to domestic animals but excludes animals destined for human food use.

Outside this finding's scope

  • Animals destined for human use in their various food forms are excluded and governed by special laws, mainly those under SENACSA (Art. 2). Whether hens kept at home for eggs fall in that exclusion was not established.
  • No SENACSA welfare rule for poultry was read.

What the checked sources say

  • Ley 7513/2025 repealed Ley 4840/2013, the earlier animal protection and welfare law (Art. 75).
  • Ask SENACSA which welfare rules apply to laying hens.

The official wording

  • Sin perjuicio de las demás normas de protección faunísticas vigentes en el país, la presente ley será aplicable a todos los animales domésticos; a los animales silvestres o exóticos en cautiverio; y a los animales de carga, tiro o producción en función al reconocimiento establecido en la presente ley.

    Ley 7513/2025, Art. 2, first paragraph · Checked

  • Quedan excluidos de la presente ley los animales destinados para el aprovechamiento humano, en sus diversas modalidades alimenticias, los cuales se regirán por lo establecido en las leyes especiales que rigen la materia, principalmente aquellas que se encuentran bajo la competencia del Servicio Nacional de Calidad y Salud Animal

    Ley 7513/2025, Art. 2, third paragraph (opening words) · Checked

  • Artículo 75.- Deróganse las Leyes Nº 4840/2013 “DE PROTECCIÓN Y BIENESTAR ANIMAL”,

    Ley 7513/2025, Art. 75 (opening words) · Checked

  • Fecha de Promulgación: 19-08-2025

    BACN, Ley N° 7513/2025, record header · Checked

National rules on keeping poultry

Conditions apply to this finding

Jurisdiction: Paraguay

Applies to: Municipalities, whose functions include regulating and controlling the conditions for keeping domestic animals in urban areas (Ley Orgánica Municipal, text as promulgated in 2010).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No national rule on how many chickens may be kept, or where, was found in the texts read. Silence is not permission.
  • No municipal ordinance was read; later amendments to Ley 3966 were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • Municipalities, within their territory, have the function of regulating and controlling the conditions for keeping domestic animals in urban areas (Ley 3966/2010 Art. 12(7)(d)).
  • Ask your municipality whether its ordinances limit keeping chickens.

The official wording

Selling eggs in Paraguay? →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 Paraguay?
Registration: no rule identified. The finding covers: Keepers of poultry; SENACSA has the function of registering establishments and livestock populations of economically and sanitarily important species (Ley 2426/2004, text as promulgated). Outside this finding's scope: No duty for a backyard keeper to register was found in the sections read (Ley 2426/2004 Arts. 6-9, 45-48). This does not prove that none exists. SENACSA's own resolutions on poultry establishments were not read: its website did not answer. Authority: Servicio Nacional de Calidad y Salud Animal (SENACSA).
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Paraguay?
The national law we read gives a named local body its own powers over where hens can live. Municipalities, within their territory, have the function of regulating and controlling the conditions for keeping domestic animals in urban areas (Ley 3966/2010 Art. 12(7)(d)). Ask your municipality whether its ordinances limit keeping chickens. No national rule on how many chickens may be kept, or where, was found in the texts read. Silence is not permission. No municipal ordinance was read; later amendments to Ley 3966 were not checked. Look up the local rules where you live (the ordinances, bylaws or zoning of the body named here), or ask that office, before you get hens.
Do I have to keep my hens indoors for bird flu in Paraguay?
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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