Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Tuvalu?

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

Read from 10 official sources62 passages quotedChecked November 2, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Not established

National keeping rule

Rule identified

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

No rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in Tuvalu, 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: Tuvalu

Applies to: Poultry keepers in Tuvalu.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No register of poultry keepers was found in the Livestock Diseases Act, the Biosecurity Act, the Biosecurity Regulations (whose animal provisions cover importation, including of poultry), the Falekaupule Act or the Public Health Regulations (2022 Revised Edition). This does not prove that no register exists.
  • Under the Livestock Diseases Act, livestock includes domestic fowls (s.3), and an inspector authorised by the Minister may enter any land or premises to inspect livestock (s.6(2)); this is an inspection power, not a register.

What the checked sources say

  • A commercial poultry farm is listed in Schedule 2 of the Licences Act as a trade needing a licence (annual fee shown: $ 50, a maximum), in places where the Kaupule has not made its own licensing provision (ss.1, 3(1)). This is a trade licence, not a register of keepers, and 'commercial' is not defined in the sections read.

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 2026-11-02

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: Tuvalu

Applies to: Livestock, including domestic fowls, under the Livestock Diseases Act, and animals under the Biosecurity Act (2022 Revised Edition).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No order or rule requiring backyard flocks to be housed was identified in the laws read. This page does not say whether any order applies now.
  • The Quarantine Act, named in the Falekaupule Act for animal disease control, deals with quarantine aimed at preventing the introduction or spread of diseases or pests affecting man (s.2).

What the checked sources say

  • Anyone with livestock affected by a disease that appears abnormally infectious and is likely to spread must, as far as possible, keep that animal or bird separate and give notice with all practical speed to an agricultural officer or a police officer (Livestock Diseases Act, s.7).
  • The Minister may make orders declaring areas to be infected by disease and the authority by which declared areas may be isolated, and measures taken to control, destroy and dispose of livestock within such an area (Livestock Diseases Act, s.9(1)). The Minister, on the advice of the Secretary, may by order declare land or premises an infested biosecurity controlled area (Biosecurity Act, s.62(1)).
  • Inside a declared infested biosecurity controlled area, the Director of Biosecurity may by order direct the treatment or disposal of diseased animals and any other biosecurity measures the Director considers necessary to control the infestation, and may control the movement of animals into, out of or within the area; such an order does not take effect until published in the Gazette (Biosecurity Act, s.63).
  • The Minister may declare a biosecurity emergency for the whole or any part of Tuvalu, after taking the Director's advice and consulting the National Disaster Committee (Biosecurity Act, s.69(1), (2)). A declaration takes effect only once published in the Gazette and expires after 6 months unless revoked or extended (s.69(5), (6)).
  • Anyone who knows of or suspects a notifiable pest or disease must notify the Director of Biosecurity as soon as reasonably practicable (s.67(3)); the Director declares which pests and diseases are notifiable by order (s.67(1)).
  • For current measures, check the Tuvalu Government Gazette, notices at the office of the Director of Biosecurity, on the Ministry website if any, and at Kaupule or Government offices in or adjacent to the affected area (Biosecurity Act, s.104(1)). The biosecurity register, which records declared biosecurity controlled areas and notified occurrences of notifiable pests and diseases, is open to the public at the Director's office, with relevant extracts at the offices of the Ministry and at all Kaupule offices, on payment of the prescribed fee (ss.79(2)(l), (m), 80(1), (2)).
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

No rule identified in this research

Jurisdiction: Tuvalu

Applies to: Poultry kept in Tuvalu.

Outside this finding's scope

  • No national duty of care or general animal-cruelty offence was found in the Penal Code, the Animals (Control of Experiments) Act (which covers experiments on animals) or the Livestock Diseases Act (2022 Revised Edition). This does not prove that none exists.
  • Each Kaupule may make bye-laws to carry out the Falekaupule's functions (Falekaupule Act, s.53(1)), which include prohibiting cruelty to animals in accordance with the Animals (Control of Experiments) Act (Schedule 3, para. 1(j)); that Act covers experiments on animals, so whether this power reaches other cruelty to poultry was not established. The bye-laws of each island were not read.

What the checked sources say

  • Anyone who wilfully and unlawfully kills, maims or wounds any animal or bird capable of being stolen commits a misdemeanour (Penal Code, s.318).

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

Rule identified for the scope below

Jurisdiction: Tuvalu

Applies to: Poultry farms: the trade of poultry farming (Public Health Regulations, reg. 28). 'Poultry farm' is not defined in the Regulations read.

Outside this finding's scope

  • Each Kaupule may prohibit, restrict and regulate the keeping of livestock of any description by bye-laws (Falekaupule Act, Schedule 3, para. 1(h)); the bye-laws of each island were not read. Copies of bye-laws are kept at the Kaupule office and are open to public inspection without payment (s.56(1)). Each Kaupule may also prescribe by bye-laws the conditions under which any offensive trade or industry may be carried on (Schedule 3, 'Trade and Industry' (c)), which bears on poultry farming as an offensive trade.
  • Whether a household flock counts as a poultry farm under reg. 28 was not established. Nothing in the texts read gives permission to keep chickens.

What the checked sources say

  • The trade of poultry farming is declared an offensive trade. No poultry farm may be situated within two hundred feet of any well, dwelling house or business premises, and every poultry farm must be kept clean; the Minister may, on a sanitary inspector's recommendation, order the closure or removal without compensation of a poultry farm that breaks either rule (Public Health Regulations, reg. 28).

The official wording

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

More countries we've checked

Every country on the map →

Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Tuvalu?
Registration: no rule identified. The finding covers: Poultry keepers in Tuvalu. Outside this finding's scope: No register of poultry keepers was found in the Livestock Diseases Act, the Biosecurity Act, the Biosecurity Regulations (whose animal provisions cover importation, including of poultry), the Falekaupule Act or the Public Health Regulations (2022 Revised Edition). This does not prove that no register exists. Under the Livestock Diseases Act, livestock includes domestic fowls (s.3), and an inspector authorised by the Minister may enter any land or premises to inspect livestock (s.6(2)); this is an inspection power, not a register.
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Tuvalu?
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 Tuvalu?
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.

PoultryPal tracks your birds, eggs, hatches, sales, and expenses — so you can see exactly how your flock is doing. Free to download on iOS and Android.

Download on the App StoreGet it on Google Play