Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Taiwan?

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 4 official sources34 passages quotedChecked October 29, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Conditions apply

National keeping rule

Rule identified

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in Taiwan, 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: Taiwan

Applies to: Keepers of poultry, chickens included, at or above the keeping scale the central agriculture authority designates (Animal Industry Act Arts. 3, 4).

Outside this finding's scope

  • The designated keeping scale for chickens was not read, so whether a small backyard flock is below it was not established. Fees were not established; an unknown fee does not mean registration is free.

What the checked sources say

  • Keepers at or above the designated scale must apply for livestock-farm registration (Art. 4(1)), to the municipal or county (city) authority where the farm is (Art. 6(1)).
  • Animals of the same kind sharing a water or electricity meter, a drain or the same fence or wall are counted together (Art. 4(2)).
  • Keeping at or above the designated scale without a farm registration certificate is fined NT$30,000 to 150,000 (Art. 39(1) item 1).

Thresholds

  • At or above the keeping scale the central agriculture authority designates (Art. 4(1), (3)); the number was not read.

Authority: Municipal or county (city) authority where the farm is (Animal Industry Act Art. 6(1))

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

  • 飼養家畜、家禽達中央主管機關指定之飼養規模以上者，應申請畜牧場登記。

    畜牧法 第4條第1項 · Checked

  • 二、家禽：係指雞、鴨、鵝、火雞及其他經中央主管機關指定之動物。

    畜牧法 第3條第2款 · Checked

  • 飼養同一種類之家畜或家禽，使用共同之水表、電表、排水口或同一圍籬（牆）內者，應合併計算其飼養規模。

    畜牧法 第4條第2項 · Checked

  • 報請所在地直轄市或縣（市）主管機關核辦。

    畜牧法 第6條第1項 · Checked

  • 有下列情形之一者，處新臺幣三萬元以上十五萬元以下罰鍰：

    畜牧法 第39條第1項 · Checked

  • 一、飼養家畜、家禽達第四條中央主管機關指定之飼養規模以上者，未依第六條規定取得畜牧場登記證書而飼養家畜、家禽。

    畜牧法 第39條第1項第1款 · Checked

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 2026-10-29

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: Taiwan

Applies to: Animal owners or keepers in an area a municipal or county (city) authority designates to prevent an animal infectious disease; chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese are animals under the Statute (Art. 4).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No current order, area or date is asserted here.
  • Whether the power to order isolation of animals is used to keep backyard poultry indoors was not established.

What the checked sources say

  • Municipal or county (city) authorities shall, when necessary to prevent an animal infectious disease, designate areas and order owners or keepers to disinfect premises and equipment, improve keeping conditions, isolate animals and remove disease vectors (Statute for Prevention of Infectious Animal Diseases Art. 14(1)); not complying is fined NT$30,000 to 150,000 (Art. 45 item 4).
  • Authorities at every level may, when necessary, announce bans or limits on moving given kinds of animals in designated areas and periods (Art. 28(1) item 1).
  • For a major zoonotic disease spread by poultry, the central authority may ban showing, displaying and selling those live birds in announced retail markets (Art. 14-1).
  • Owners or keepers must report animals that die of a suspected or confirmed infectious disease or an unknown cause (Art. 12(1)); where ten or fewer household-sideline chickens, turkeys, ducks or geese die of disease, the owner may deal with them by burning, burying, disinfecting or similar means and may not sell or dump them, unless during an outbreak the local authority announces by district that the reporting rule applies (Art. 12(2), (3)).
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.

  • 直轄市或縣（市）主管機關，為防治動物傳染病之發生，必要時應指定區域，令動物所有人或管理人，實施飼養場所及設備之消毒、飼養環境之改善、動物之隔離及病媒之驅除等措施。

    動物傳染病防治條例 第14條第1項 · Checked

  • 四、動物所有人或管理人違反第十四條第一項規定，未依直轄市或縣（市）主管機關命令，於指定區域內實施防治措施。

    動物傳染病防治條例 第45條第4款 · Checked

  • 各級主管機關認為防疫上有必要時，得公告採取下列各款措施：

    動物傳染病防治條例 第28條第1項 · Checked

  • 一、指定區域、期間，禁止或限制輸送一定種類之動物，並停止搬運可能傳播動物傳染病病原體之動物屍體及物品。

    動物傳染病防治條例 第28條第1項第1款 · Checked

  • 中央主管機關依第十七條第二項所公告之重大人畜共通之動物傳染病，由雞、鴨、鵝及火雞等家禽傳染、蔓延者，中央主管機關得禁止該等活禽於公告零售市場展示、陳列及販售。

    動物傳染病防治條例 第14-1條 · Checked

  • 動物所有人或管理人，於其動物因罹患或疑患動物傳染病或病因不明而死亡時，應向動物防疫機關報告

    動物傳染病防治條例 第12條第1項 · Checked

  • 屬於家庭副業之雞、火雞、鴨、鵝及其血緣相近之野生動物病死，數量在十隻以下者，其所有人得自行處理，不適用前項規定。

    動物傳染病防治條例 第12條第2項 · Checked

  • 但如遇動物傳染病流行時，直轄市或縣（市）主管機關得分區指定動物傳染病名稱及動物種類，隨時公告依前項規定處理

    動物傳染病防治條例 第12條第2項 · Checked

  • 前項自行處理，係指以燒燬、掩埋或消毒等方式為之，不得銷售或任意棄置。

    動物傳染病防治條例 第12條第3項 · Checked

  • 本條例所稱動物，係指牛、水牛、馬、騾、驢、駱駝、綿羊、山羊、兔、豬、犬、貓、雞、火雞、鴨、鵝

    動物傳染病防治條例 第4條 · Checked

Small-flock welfare minimums

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Taiwan

Applies to: Owners (the owner, or the person actually controlling the animal) of vertebrates kept or controlled by people, economic animals included (Animal Protection Act Art. 3).

Outside this finding's scope

  • Selected duties only.

What the checked sources say

  • Owners must provide proper, clean and harmless food and sufficient clean water around the clock; a safe, clean, ventilated and drained living environment with suitable shelter, light and temperature; necessary prevention of statutory animal infectious diseases; and protection from harassment, abuse or injury (Art. 5(2) items 1 to 4).
  • Owners may not abandon animals they keep (Art. 5(3)), and no one may harass, abuse or injure animals (Art. 6).
  • Breaching the care duties in Art. 5(2) items 1 to 10 without injuring the animal, and not improving by the deadline set, is fined NT$3,000 to 15,000, repeatable (Art. 30-1 item 1).

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Taiwan

Applies to: Anyone keeping poultry within a designated cleanup area (Waste Disposal Act Art. 27), and keepers at or above the designated farm-registration scale (Animal Industry Act Art. 4).

Outside this finding's scope

  • Whether chickens may be kept at a particular property was not established from the national texts read. Executing agencies (local environmental protection bureaus and township offices) designate cleanup areas (Waste Disposal Act Arts. 3, 5(1)), so check with them.

What the checked sources say

  • In designated cleanup areas, keeping poultry or livestock in a way that hinders the hygiene of the surroundings is prohibited (Waste Disposal Act Art. 27 item 9), fined NT$1,200 to 100,000 with notice to improve (Art. 50(1) item 3).
  • A designated cleanup area is one the executing agency announces for environmental-hygiene needs (Art. 3); executing agencies are municipal and county (city) environmental protection bureaus and township (town, city) offices (Art. 5(1)).
  • Keepers at or above the designated keeping scale must register a livestock farm (Animal Industry Act Art. 4(1)).

The official wording

Selling eggs in Taiwan? →License, small-flock line, markets and cartons, on their own page.Selling: License: depends

More countries we've checked

Every country on the map →

Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Taiwan?
Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: Keepers of poultry, chickens included, at or above the keeping scale the central agriculture authority designates (Animal Industry Act Arts. 3, 4). At or above the keeping scale the central agriculture authority designates (Art. 4(1), (3)); the number was not read. Outside this finding's scope: The designated keeping scale for chickens was not read, so whether a small backyard flock is below it was not established. Fees were not established; an unknown fee does not mean registration is free. Authority: Municipal or county (city) authority where the farm is (Animal Industry Act Art. 6(1)).
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Taiwan?
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 Taiwan?
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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