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Roosters and chickens

Keeping chickens can help reduce kitchen and food waste and reward you and your garden with a fresh supply of eggs and chicken manure. However, it can cause issues with neighbouring properties such as noise, odour and rodent complaints.

Poultry can also be unhygienic, messy and difficult to maintain standards that ensure they do not pose a potential risk to human health.

You can keep chickens in a safe way and minimise their impact on your neighbours by following the requirements outlined on this page.

How you must keep chickens

You can keep chickens and poultry within urban areas in Eurobodalla Shire. You will however need to follow the provisions of the State Environmental Planning Policy (Exempt and Complying Development Codes) 2008 (SEPP) and the Local Government Act 1993.

Requirements for keeping chickens include:

  • for housing on land (other than land zoned within Zone R5), no more than 5 fowl/poultry and no roosters
  • for housing on land within Zone R5, no more than 10 fowl/poultry
  • fowl/poultry housing is to be located in the rear yard, with a floor area of less than 15m2
  • the housing be located at least 3 metres from each lot boundary
  • there must not be more than 1 development per lot
  • the housing of fowl/poultry (including guinea fowls) is to be located at least 4.5 metres from any dwelling, public hall, school or premises used for the manufacture, preparation, sale or storage of food
  • housing is to be enclosed to prevent the escape of poultry
  • if the housing is located on bush fire prone land, and is less than 5 metres from a dwelling, it must be constructed of non-combustible material.

You can check the zoning of your property to determine how many chickens you can keep, by using the ePlanning tool:

Keeping roosters is not allowed in residential areas within the Eurobodalla, except in areas Zoned R5 – Large Lot Residential, but you can keep them in all rural areas.

Please note: As of 1 December 2021, a reference to an Environment Protection Zone E1, E2, E3 or E4 in a document should be taken to be a reference to a Conservation Zone C1, C2, C3 or C4. For further information, please see Department of Planning, Housing and Infrastructure's 'Standard Instrument (Local Environmental Plans) Amendment (Land Use Zones) Order 2021'.

If roosters and chickens are causing problems

If keeping chickens and poultry becomes a public health or noise issue in any area of the Eurobodalla, Council can impose further requirements on the landowner under Section 124 of the Local Government Act 1993, in line with Council's Local Orders Policy. These requirements may include:

  • the removal of the number of poultry kept
  • poultry must not be kept under such conditions as to create a nuisance or be dangerous to health
  • poultry yards must be kept clean and free from offensive odours
  • poultry yards must be enclosed to prevent the escape of poultry.

More information

Read Council's policy relating to keeping chickens and poultry:

We can help you

If you are experiencing any health or noise issues associated with the housing of chickens and poultry, you can Contact Council's Rangers on: