Can you keep backyard chickens in Washington?
In a Washington town, the council has power to regulate the keeping of domestic animals (RCW 35.27.370), so check your town's code; city and county rules aren't covered here. Whether you must register wasn't established.
Read from 5 official sources31 passages quotedChecked October 24, 2026
At a glance
Registering your flock
Where hens can live
Bird-flu housing orders
Welfare rules
Who decides where hens can live
The state law we read gives a named local body its own powers over where hens can live. What the checked sources say:
- A town council has power to regulate, restrain or prohibit the running at large of domestic animals and to regulate the keeping of such animals within its limits.
No statewide permission or prohibition on keeping chickens is established by this finding. A town council has power to regulate the keeping of domestic animals, so check with your town. This page doesn't cover city or county powers, local ordinances, or HOA, rooster and setback rules.
Registration: not established in the state sources we read.
The law's own words are quoted under state rules on keeping poultry below.
How to check: Look up the local rules where you live (the ordinances, bylaws or zoning of the body named here), or ask that office, before you get hens.
A sourced reading of Washington'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
Not established from the sources checked
Jurisdiction: Washington
Applies to: The Washington State Department of Agriculture premises identification number (PIN) application, as checked on 24 October 2026.
Outside this finding's scope
- Whether Washington requires backyard poultry keepers to register was not established; the PIN page does not say whether registration is voluntary or required.
What the checked sources say
- WSDA provides a form to apply for a Premises Identification Number. Email the completed form to ahealth@agr.wa.gov or mail it to WSDA Animal Disease Traceability; a premises information card with the number is emailed back.
Authority: Not established from the sources checked.
Fee: WSDA says there is no fee for PIN registration.
The official wording
Use this form to apply for a Premises Identification Number (PIN). There is no fee for this registration.
Premises Identification Number page, "How to apply" · Checked
Email the form to: ahealth@agr.wa.gov
Animal Disease Traceability
Premises Identification Number page, mailing address · Checked
A premises information card, with premises number, will be emailed to you.
Premises Identification Number page, processing note · 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 2026-10-24
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: Washington
Applies to: Quarantine and hold orders the director of the Washington State Department of Agriculture can issue under RCW 16.36 for animals, including poultry.
Outside this finding's scope
- The quarantine power does not in terms require birds to be kept indoors, and this finding does not establish that any quarantine, hold or housing order applies now.
What the checked sources say
- For this chapter, animal means members of the animal kingdom except humans, fish and insects, and livestock includes poultry. The director supervises prevention and suppression of dangerous animal diseases and may issue and enforce a quarantine order for any animal affected with or exposed to disease, or when there is reasonable cause to investigate whether it is. The quarantine lasts as long as the director deems necessary.
- A quarantine means the owner places and restrains the animal within an enclosure or area designated in the director’s order. Animals under a quarantine or hold order must be kept separate from other animals as the order directs, and may not be moved, transported or sold without the director’s written approval until the order is released or a hold order expires.
- The director may also issue a hold order, for example when disease is not obvious but there is reasonable cause to investigate. A hold order is in effect for fourteen days unless released sooner and may be replaced by a quarantine order.
- As checked on 24 October 2026, WSDA’s avian influenza page said avian flu response plans typically include quarantine zones in areas with infected flocks and bans on moving poultry and poultry products, such as eggs, out of those zones. To report suspected bird flu illness or unexplained deaths in domestic flocks, call the WSDA Avian Health Program at 1-800-606-3056 or report sick domestic birds online.
- Current mandatory housing status remains unconfirmed.
- 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.
"Animal" means all members of the animal kingdom except humans, fish, and insects.
RCW 16.36.005(1) · Checked
"Livestock" means horses, mules, donkeys, cattle, bison, sheep, goats, swine, rabbits, llamas, alpacas, ratites, poultry, waterfowl, game birds, and other species so designated by statute.
RCW 16.36.005(15) · Checked
"Department" means the department of agriculture of the state of Washington.
RCW 16.36.005(6) · Checked
(1) The director shall supervise the prevention of the spread and the suppression of infectious, contagious, communicable, and dangerous diseases affecting animals within, in transit through, and imported into the state.
RCW 16.36.010(1) · Checked
(2) The director may issue a quarantine order and enforce the quarantine of any animal or its reproductive products when any animal or its reproductive products are affected with or have been exposed to disease
or when there is reasonable cause to investigate whether any animal or its reproductive products are affected with or have been exposed to disease, either within or outside the state.
The quarantine shall remain in effect as long as the director deems necessary.
RCW 16.36.010(2), final sentence · Checked
"Quarantine" means the placing and restraining of any animal or its reproductive products by the owner or agent of the owner within a certain described and designated enclosure or area within this state, or the restraining of any animal or its reproductive products from entering this state, as may be directed in an order by the director.
RCW 16.36.005(18) · Checked
(4) Any animal or animal reproductive product placed under a quarantine or hold order shall be kept separate and apart from other animals designated in the instructions of the quarantine or hold order, and shall not be allowed to have anything in common with other animals.
RCW 16.36.010(4) · Checked
(7) Any animal or animal reproductive product placed under a quarantine or hold order may not be moved, transported, or sold without written approval from the director or until the quarantine or hold order is released, or the hold order expires.
RCW 16.36.010(7) · Checked
(a) Overt disease or exposure to disease in an animal is not immediately obvious but there is reasonable cause to investigate whether an animal is diseased or has been exposed to disease;
RCW 16.36.010(3)(a) · Checked
A hold order is in effect for fourteen days and expires when released by the director or no later than midnight on the fourteenth day from the date of the hold order. A hold order may be replaced with a quarantine order for the purpose of animal disease control.
RCW 16.36.010(3), closing paragraph · Checked
Establishing quarantine zones in areas with infected poultry flocks and prohibiting the movement of poultry and poultry products, like eggs, from quarantine zones.
Avian Influenza page, "Avian flu response plans typically include" · Checked
Avian flu response plans typically include:
1-800-606-3056 or report sick domestic birds online.
Avian Influenza page, Contact, WSDA Avian Health Program · Checked
WSDA Avian Health Program
Avian Influenza page, Contact · Checked
Please use this hotline only to report suspected bird flu illness or unexplained deaths in domestic flocks
Small-flock welfare minimums
Rule identified for the scope below
Jurisdiction: Washington
Applies to: Animals, including birds, owned by or in the possession or control of a person under Washington’s animal-cruelty chapter, RCW 16.52.
Outside this finding's scope
- Nothing in the chapter applies to accepted husbandry practices used in the commercial raising or slaughtering of livestock or poultry, to animals in normal rodeo events, or to customary use or exhibition of animals at fairs.
- This finding is not a complete welfare code and sets no numerical space standard or property permission.
- The chapter also does not interfere with the game laws, the right to kill animals to be used for food, or properly conducted scientific experiments or investigations.
What the checked sources say
- If you own, possess or control an animal, reside with it, or have accepted responsibility for it, you commit second-degree animal cruelty if you knowingly, recklessly or with criminal negligence fail to provide necessary food, water, shelter, rest, sanitation, space or medical attention and the animal suffers unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain as a result.
- Necessary shelter means a structure that protects the animal from wind, rain, snow, cold, heat or sun, with bedding so it can stay dry and reasonably clean and keep a normal body temperature. Necessary water means open or adequate access to potable water of a drinkable temperature, easily accessible and in sufficient quantity for the animal’s needs.
The official wording
(2) An owner of, or a person in possession or control of, residing with, or who has accepted responsibility for, an animal is guilty of animal cruelty in the second degree if, under circumstances not amounting to first degree animal cruelty, the person knowingly, recklessly, or with criminal negligence:
RCW 16.52.207(2), opening · Checked
(a) Fails to provide the animal with necessary food, water, shelter, rest, sanitation, space, or medical attention and the animal suffers unnecessary or unjustifiable physical pain as a result of the failure; or
RCW 16.52.207(2)(a) · Checked
"Animal" means any nonhuman mammal, bird, reptile, or amphibian.
RCW 16.52.011(2)(b) · Checked
"Necessary shelter" means a structure sufficient to protect an animal from wind, rain, snow, cold, heat, or sun that has bedding to permit an animal to remain dry and reasonably clean and maintain a normal body temperature.
RCW 16.52.011(2)(o) · Checked
"Necessary water" means the provision of open or adequate access to potable water of a drinkable temperature that is easily accessible to the animal, in sufficient quantity to satisfy the animal's needs
RCW 16.52.011(2)(q), opening · Checked
Nothing in this chapter applies to accepted husbandry practices used in the commercial raising or slaughtering of livestock or poultry, or products thereof or to the use of animals in the normal and usual course of rodeo events or to the customary use or exhibiting of animals in normal and usual events at fairs as defined in RCW
RCW 16.52.185 · Checked
No part of this chapter shall be deemed to interfere with any of the laws of this state known as the "game laws,"
RCW 16.52.180, opening · Checked
or to interfere with the right to kill animals to be used for food or with any properly conducted scientific experiments or investigations,
RCW 16.52.180, food and research clause · Checked
National or state rules on keeping poultry
Conditions apply to this finding
Jurisdiction: Washington
Applies to: Washington town councils’ statutory power over keeping domestic animals.
Outside this finding's scope
- No statewide permission or prohibition on keeping chickens is established by this finding. A town council has power to regulate the keeping of domestic animals, so check with your town. This page doesn't cover city or county powers, local ordinances, or HOA, rooster and setback rules.
What the checked sources say
- A town council has power to regulate, restrain or prohibit the running at large of domestic animals and to regulate the keeping of such animals within its limits.
The official wording
The council of said town shall have power:
RCW 35.27.370, opening · Checked
to regulate, restrain, or prohibit the running at large of any and all domestic animals within the city limits, or any part or parts thereof, and to regulate the keeping of such animals within any part of the city;
RCW 35.27.370(9) · Checked
Bird flu right now? PoultryPal's bird-flu tracker for Washington has the latest we've checked.
Common questions
- Do I have to register backyard chickens in Washington?
- Registration: not established. The finding covers: The Washington State Department of Agriculture premises identification number (PIN) application, as checked on 24 October 2026. Outside this finding's scope: Whether Washington requires backyard poultry keepers to register was not established; the PIN page does not say whether registration is voluntary or required.
- Can I keep chickens in my backyard in Washington?
- The state law we read gives a named local body its own powers over where hens can live. A town council has power to regulate, restrain or prohibit the running at large of domestic animals and to regulate the keeping of such animals within its limits. No statewide permission or prohibition on keeping chickens is established by this finding. A town council has power to regulate the keeping of domestic animals, so check with your town. This page doesn't cover city or county powers, local ordinances, or HOA, rooster and setback rules. Look up the local rules where you live (the ordinances, bylaws or zoning of the body named here), or ask that office, before you get hens.
- Do I have to keep my hens indoors for bird flu in Washington?
- 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 Washington has the latest we've checked.
Allowed where you live? Then keep the records.
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