Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Senegal?

The national sources we read don't settle registration or who decides where hens can live. Here's what they do say.

Read from 5 official sources30 passages quotedChecked October 29, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Not established

National keeping rule

Not established

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Not established

A sourced reading of national law in Senegal, 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: Senegal

Applies to: Poultry keepers (no national keeper registration duty identified in the texts read).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No duty to register a flock was found in Decree 2002-1094 (read in full) or in Order 1317 of 7 March 2002. This does not prove that none exists.
  • Order 1317 refers to the operating authorisation of a poultry-farming establishment classed in the second class of dangerous, unhealthy or inconvenient installations (Art. 17); which flocks are classed was not established.
  • Both texts are read as archived copies of the Official Journal website from 10 June 2015; later amendments were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • Separately from registration, anyone owning or in charge of an animal that has, or is suspected of having, a contagious disease must declare it at once to the administrative authority or the livestock service (Decree 2002-1094 Art. 6, archived copy of 10 June 2015).

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 2026-10-29

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: Senegal

Applies to: No power to order birds to be housed or kept indoors because of bird flu was found in the texts read. Decree 2002-1094 makes highly pathogenic avian influenza (fowl plague) and Newcastle disease legally contagious throughout Senegal (Art. 4) and provides for orders declaring infected the premises and enclosures of sick, suspect or contaminated animals on a holding where either disease is reported (Art. 128).

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.
  • The decree's bird-flu chapter (Arts 127–130) provides for orders declaring premises infected, slaughter and disinfection; a rule ordering birds to be kept indoors was not found in it.
  • Decree 2002-1094 is read as an archived copy of the Official Journal website from 10 June 2015; later amendments were not checked.

What the checked sources say

  • When fowl plague or Newcastle disease is reported on a holding, the competent administrative authority, on the proposal of the livestock service, takes an order declaring infected the premises and enclosures of the sick, suspect or contaminated animals (Art. 128; see also Art. 7; archived copy of 10 June 2015).
  • Within the perimeter the order sets, owners must apply the measures listed, starting with slaughter of all sick, suspect or contaminated animals, and transport of live poultry and eggs from infected enclosures is prohibited (Art. 129, same copy).
  • The order may be lifted 21 days after all sick, suspect or contaminated poultry of the holding are slaughtered and disinfection is completed (Art. 130, same copy).
  • Vaccination against these two diseases is compulsory for poultry (Art. 127, same copy).
  • For current measures, check with the ministry in charge of livestock: Decree 2024-964 of 8 April 2024 gave the Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Livestock responsibility for, among other things, animal health and compliance with livestock legislation (Art. 1); later changes to ministers' duties were not checked.
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

Not established from the sources checked

Scope not established from the sources checked.

National rules on keeping poultry

Not established from the sources checked

Jurisdiction: Senegal

Applies to: Not established for household flocks; Order 1317 of 7 March 2002 concerns a poultry-farming establishment classed in the second class of dangerous, unhealthy or inconvenient installations.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No national rule on how many chickens a household may keep, or where, was found in the texts read. Local rules were not surveyed.
  • Order 1317 is worded as a general rule for operating poultry establishments classed in the second class (Art. 1) and names no particular farm; which flocks fall in that class, and so whether any household flock is covered, was not established.
  • The texts' silence on household flocks is not permission to keep chickens.

What the checked sources say

  • Order 1317 requires the buildings or aviaries of the establishment it regulates to be at least 50 metres from any building lived in or occupied by third parties (Art. 3), as read in an archived copy of the Official Journal website from 10 June 2015.
  • Under the 2013 local authorities code, the mayor is in charge of municipal police (Art. 118), which aims at good order, security and public salubrity and includes acting against harmful events caused by animals straying (Art. 119, item 6); this is read in an archived copy of 27 April 2025, and the 2019 amending law was not read. Whether any commune has rules on keeping poultry was not surveyed.

The official wording

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

More countries we've checked

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Senegal?
Registration: no rule identified. The finding covers: Poultry keepers (no national keeper registration duty identified in the texts read). Outside this finding's scope: No duty to register a flock was found in Decree 2002-1094 (read in full) or in Order 1317 of 7 March 2002. This does not prove that none exists. Order 1317 refers to the operating authorisation of a poultry-farming establishment classed in the second class of dangerous, unhealthy or inconvenient installations (Art. 17); which flocks are classed was not established. Both texts are read as archived copies of the Official Journal website from 10 June 2015; later amendments were not checked.
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Senegal?
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 Senegal?
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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