Can you keep backyard chickens in Mississippi?
Run a hatchery, deal in chicks, or sell incubator-hatched chicks or poults or do custom hatching in Mississippi? Register with the Board of Animal Health yearly. Whether other keepers must register wasn't established.
Read from 3 official sources13 passages quotedChecked October 25, 2026
At a glance
Registering your flock
State keeping rule
Bird-flu housing orders
Welfare rules
A sourced reading of Mississippi's state law, 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 or state 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: Mississippi
Applies to: The Mississippi Board of Animal Health’s (MBAH) poultry regulations (Chapter 13, rule 100): annual registration of hatcherymen, chick dealers and anyone selling incubator hatched chicks or poults or doing custom hatching.
Outside this finding's scope
- No registration duty for a backyard flock that does not sell chicks or poults or do custom hatching was found in Chapter 13. Other MBAH chapters and the Mississippi Code were not read for this point, so this is not proof that none exists.
- Read in the Board’s own posting of its regulations on 25 October 2026; the Secretary of State’s Administrative Code copy was not compared.
What the checked sources say
- To control pullorum and typhoid disease, Mississippi requires all hatcherymen, chick dealers, and anyone selling incubator hatched chicks or poults or doing custom hatching to register with the Board of Animal Health and get a permit and official poster each year.
Authority: Mississippi Board of Animal Health
Fee: Not established from the sources checked.
The official wording
To control pullorum and typhoid disease, all hatcherymen, chick dealers, or any person, persons, firm or corporation selling incubator hatched chicks or poults, or doing custom hatching, must register with and obtain a permit and official poster from the Mississippi Board of animal Health each year.
MBAH Regulations ch. 13, rule 100 · Checked
Regulations – Chapter 13 – Poultry
MBAH Regulations ch. 13 page heading · Checked
Bird-flu housing orders
Current status needs rechecking
Check the official current-status pageOrders can change between checks. A missed check or an expired order does not establish that no order applies.
Housing-order finding as checked on 2026-10-25
The scope and conditions below are a dated record, not confirmation of today's position.
Conditions apply to this finding
Uses housing orders in this scope: Yes, according to the checked evidence, within the limits listed under “Outside this finding’s scope” below.
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Applies to: MBAH’s quarantine and stand-still order regulation (Chapter 21, adopted 2-15-21, citing Miss. Code Ann. 69-15-9) and its avian influenza response rule (Chapter 13, rule 110.04).
Outside this finding's scope
- These rules do not in terms require birds to be kept indoors, and this finding does not establish that any quarantine or order applies now.
- Read in the Board’s own posting of its regulations on 25 October 2026; the Secretary of State’s Administrative Code copy was not compared.
What the checked sources say
- Mississippi’s State Veterinarian (or a designee) may issue the quarantines and stand-still orders the State Veterinarian thinks necessary or desirable to prevent, control or eradicate contagious and infectious diseases of animals and poultry. They may restrict bringing animals, poultry and listed items into Mississippi or moving them within the state, and may apply to places or premises as well as to animals, poultry and objects.
- On a presumed positive H5/H7 avian influenza test, or a highly suspicious diagnosis, the State Veterinarian’s listed actions include issuing a Quarantine/Hold Order to the affected farm and starting surveillance of all poultry, commercial and non-commercial, within 3 miles of the infected premises.
- As checked on 25 October 2026, Mississippi’s avian influenza site asked people to use its online system to report high backyard poultry deaths or unusual wild bird deaths.
- Current mandatory housing status remains unconfirmed; check Mississippi’s avian influenza site.
- 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.
The State Veterinarian or his designee shall have the power and authority to issue such quarantines and stand-still orders as he may deem to be necessary or desirable to prevent, control or eradicate all contagious and infectious diseases of animals and poultry.
MBAH Regulations ch. 21, regulation 100, first sentence · Checked
Such quarantines and stand-still orders may restrict the entry into Mississippi or the intrastate movement of any animals or poultry, dead or alive, as well as any vehicles, animal litter, animal feed, cooked or uncooked food, bedding, equipment, structures, clothing and any other products that may contain infectious materials.
MBAH Regulations ch. 21, regulation 100, second sentence · Checked
Such quarantines and stand-still orders may apply to locations or premises, as well as to animals, poultry and physical objects.
MBAH Regulations ch. 21, regulation 100, third sentence · Checked
Adopted: 2-15-21
MBAH Regulations ch. 21, regulation 100, adoption line · Checked
Source: Miss. Code Ann. §69-15-9.
MBAH Regulations ch. 21, regulation 100, source line · Checked
Action to be taken upon notification of a presumed positive H5/H7 test to avian influenza or a highly suspicious diagnosis based on clinical signs and or positive AGID.
Issue Quarantine/ Hold Order to affected farm
MBAH Regulations ch. 13, rule 110.04, State Veterinarian actions · Checked
Begin surveillance of all poultry (commercial &non-commercial) within 3 miles of Infected Premise (IP).
MBAH Regulations ch. 13, rule 110.04, State Veterinarian actions · Checked
(Adopted January 6, 2006.)
MBAH Regulations ch. 13, rule 110.04, adoption line · Checked
Status of Avian Influenza in Mississippi
hpai.ms.gov home, status section heading · Checked
Use the system below to report high backyard poultry deaths or unusual wild bird deaths
hpai.ms.gov home, "REPORT DEAD BIRDS" · Checked
Small-flock welfare minimums
Not established from the sources checked
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Applies to: Mississippi animal welfare law for small flocks; the animal cruelty statutes in Mississippi Code Title 97, Chapter 41 were not read.
Outside this finding's scope
- The Mississippi Code itself was not read for this research. The Board of Animal Health regulations read for this research (Chapters 13 and 21, as posted by the Board on 25 October 2026) do not set care standards for small flocks; the Board’s other chapters were not read. This is an open question, not an answer that no duty exists.
National or state rules on keeping poultry
Not established from the sources checked
Jurisdiction: Mississippi
Applies to: Mississippi state law on keeping chickens and the zoning and animal powers of Mississippi cities and counties (Mississippi Code), which were not read.
Outside this finding's scope
- The Mississippi Code itself was not read for this research, so it is not established whether Mississippi sets any statewide keeping rule or leaves the question to cities and counties.
Bird flu right now? PoultryPal's bird-flu tracker for Mississippi has the latest we've checked.
Next door
Every state on the map →Common questions
- Do I have to register backyard chickens in Mississippi?
- Registration: conditions apply. The finding covers: The Mississippi Board of Animal Health’s (MBAH) poultry regulations (Chapter 13, rule 100): annual registration of hatcherymen, chick dealers and anyone selling incubator hatched chicks or poults or doing custom hatching. Outside this finding's scope: No registration duty for a backyard flock that does not sell chicks or poults or do custom hatching was found in Chapter 13. Other MBAH chapters and the Mississippi Code were not read for this point, so this is not proof that none exists. Read in the Board’s own posting of its regulations on 25 October 2026; the Secretary of State’s Administrative Code copy was not compared. Authority: Mississippi Board of Animal Health.
- Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Mississippi?
- The state 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 Mississippi?
- Housing orders come and go, so we never show one as current. This page links the official status page to check today. PoultryPal's bird-flu tracker page for Mississippi has the latest we've checked.
Allowed where you live? Then keep the records.
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