Poultry

Keeping chickens is a very Kiwi thing to do, and it’s great to have your own eggs! There are certain things you need to know when keeping poultry – like that poultry includes fowls, geese, ducks, turkeys, peacocks (including peafowls), pheasants, ostriches, and emus.

Generally speaking, you can keep up to 12 chickens in an urban area. They’ll need to be kept within your property boundaries, and your coop will need to be at least 2 metres from your property boundary (or any building storing human food), and 4.5 metres from your front boundary. See the Keeping of Animals, Bees and Poultry Bylaw for the full details.

Required sizes for coops are outlined in the Layer Hens’ Welfare Code on the Ministry for Primary Industries’ website.

You’ll also need a licence from Council if you want to keep a rooster or peacock in an urban area, and a resource consent to keep a rooster in a residential area. See the District Plan for further details.

You can apply for this licence by completing either:

• application for licence to keep animals (other than dogs or bees)[PDF 85 KB] (printable) (PDF, 85.47 KB)
• application for licence to keep animals (other than dogs or bees) (online).