Keeping hens · National rules

Can you keep backyard chickens in Uruguay?

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 6 official sources25 passages quotedChecked October 29, 2026

At a glance

Registering your flock

Conditions apply

National keeping rule

No rule identified

Bird-flu housing orders

Status needs rechecking

Welfare rules

Rule identified

A sourced reading of national law in Uruguay, 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: Uruguay

Applies to: Egg-production establishments of hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) exploited for commercial purposes (Decreto 396/019 Art. 1).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No definition of commercial purposes was found in Decreto 396/019 (all 20 articles read); whether a backyard flock whose owner sells some eggs must register was not established.
  • No registration duty for non-commercial backyard flocks was found in the decree. This does not prove that none exists.

What the checked sources say

  • Obtain MGAP sanitary approval, then register in the Sistema de Monitoreo Avícola (SMA) and keep the data up to date (Art. 2).
  • Unregistered establishments may not move, sell or receive birds and eggs from other establishments (Art. 3).
  • The sanitary approval must be endorsed every year with a certificate from an approved or accredited private veterinarian (Art. 4).
  • Every owner or keeper of birds, including family-production and self-consumption flocks, must report suspected notifiable diseases or mortality above 10% of the flock (Art. 6).

Authority: MGAP (sanitary approval; registration in the Sistema de Monitoreo Avícola, SMA)

Fee: Not established from the sources checked.

The official wording

Bird-flu housing orders

Current status needs rechecking

Check the agency's own page (not a 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, within the limits listed under “Outside this finding’s scope” below.

Jurisdiction: Uruguay

Applies to: Bird keepers, including backyard and free-range flocks, under sanitary measures ordered by MGAP's Dirección General de Servicios Ganaderos (DGSG).

Outside this finding's scope

  • This page does not say whether any housing order applies now. A past order is shown only as history.

What the checked sources say

  • DGSG is the competent sanitary authority for animal-disease programmes; it may order isolation, interdiction, culling, movement controls and zoning, and declare a sanitary emergency at premises, zone or country level (Ley 18.362 Art. 215).
  • On 4 September 2026 DGSG declared a national sanitary emergency after H5 avian influenza was found in backyard birds in Colonia, and ordered backyard and free-range birds to be kept in closed, roofed housing (Res. DGSG 202/026).
  • Res. DGSG 237/026 of 2 October 2026 ended the emergency declared by Res. 202/026.
  • For current measures, check the resolutions MGAP publishes.
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: Uruguay

Applies to: Every keeper of an animal, under any title (Ley 18.471 Art. 9).

Outside this finding's scope

  • Handling, treatment or surgery done as a habitual practice in managing a herd for productive purposes is not counted as maltreatment or injury (Art. 12(A)).

What the checked sources say

  • Keep the animal in adequate physical and sanitary conditions, with housing, food and shelter suited to its species (Art. 9(A), wording given by Ley 19.889).
  • Maltreating or injuring animals is prohibited; maltreatment is any unjustified act that causes harm or excessive stress (Art. 12(A)).

The official wording

National rules on keeping poultry

No rule identified in this research

Jurisdiction: Uruguay

Applies to: Departmental governments: the Intendente exercises the hygienic and sanitary police of towns, without prejudice to national authorities (Ley Orgánica Municipal, Ley 9.515 Art. 35(24)).

Outside this finding's scope

  • No national rule on how many chickens may be kept, or where, was found in the texts read (Reglamento Bromatológico Nacional; Decreto 396/019; Ley 18.471; Ley 9.515 Art. 35). Silence is not permission.
  • No departmental rule was read. The 1935 law is shown in IMPO's text with a note to check the Constitution for amendments and implied repeals.

What the checked sources say

  • The Intendente's duties include veterinary inspection and the measures it deems necessary to guarantee public health (Ley 9.515 Art. 35(24)(H)).
  • Ask your departmental government (Intendencia) whether its rules limit keeping hens.

The official wording

This does not establish that keeping is unrestricted or that all rules are local.

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

More countries we've checked

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Common questions

Do I have to register backyard chickens in Uruguay?
Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: Egg-production establishments of hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) exploited for commercial purposes (Decreto 396/019 Art. 1). Outside this finding's scope: No definition of commercial purposes was found in Decreto 396/019 (all 20 articles read); whether a backyard flock whose owner sells some eggs must register was not established. No registration duty for non-commercial backyard flocks was found in the decree. This does not prove that none exists. Authority: MGAP (sanitary approval; registration in the Sistema de Monitoreo Avícola, SMA).
Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Uruguay?
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 Uruguay?
Housing orders come and go, so we never show one as current. This page links the agency's own page to check; it is not a status page.

Allowed where you live? Then keep the records.

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