Am I allowed to have chickens?
Keeping backyard chickens and poultry is regulated at the city and town level. Check your city or town's bylaws or website to confirm if keeping backyard chickens is permitted in your area, what the rules and requirements are, and general best practices.
Contact your city or town clerk's office if you have questions, concerns, or would like to verify local laws.
Massachusetts laws
MGL c. 94, §§ 89-92A Sale of eggs
MGL c. 129, § 26B Hatching eggs; baby chicks or live poultry; restriction on sale, transportation or importation
Requires that all live poultry or hatching eggs moving within the Commonwealth originate from current certified Salmonella pullorum clean flocks.
MGL c. 272, § 94 Possessing, breeding, training, exhibiting, or selling fighting animals
MGL c. 272, § 95 Aiding or being present at exhibition of fighting animals
Massachusetts regulations
330 CMR 5 Poultry
Regulates the dealing and transporting of poultry in the Commonwealth, as well as the quality grades of eggs sold, and requirements relating to pullorum-typhoid disease in poultry.
330 CMR 35 Regulations implementing the Act to Prevent Cruelty to Farm Animals
Poultry slaughter regulations
Massachusetts regulations regarding the slaughtering and processing of meat and poultry (105 CMR 500.030 and 105 CMR 500.031) do not specifically address raised or wild game
animals that may be subject to slaughtering and processing and intended for use as human food. The policy linked below attempts to explain the private use vs. commercial legal requirements and exemptions.
- Policies, procedures and guidelines: Slaughtering and processing of meat and poultry, Mass. Department of Public Health, revised 2015.
Selected cases
Grigg v. LeClair, 100 Mass. App. Ct. 1124 (2022), 2022 Mass. App. Unpub. LEXIS 121, 2022 WL 468159
This is a dispute over the terms of a written agreement to purchase residential real estate. The plaintiffs, the intended purchasers, wanted to raise chickens on the property and included a contingency in the purchase and sale agreement to ensure that they would be able to do so. After a title search revealed a covenant prohibiting the use of property in the subdivision for that purpose, the plaintiffs asked the defendant seller to return their $97,500 deposit. The defendant refused, claiming that the protective covenant did not apply to the residential lot the plaintiffs agreed to purchase, but only to an adjoining lot that was part of the purchase. The court disagreed, and ruled for the plaintiffs.
Web sources
General
Poultry Program, Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources.
Educates producers and consumers about the management and health issues of chickens. The page also includes:
Raising backyard poultry without ruffling too many feathers: How to comply with local regulations and bylaws and keep your neighbors happy by Kristen M. Ploetz, Esq.
Summarizes backyard chicken laws with suggestions on how to handle complaints from neighbors.
Eggs
Egg grading, Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources.
Safe egg handling for backyard egg producers, Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources.
Safe handling of eggs from small and backyard flocks, AG Informer newsletter, Cornell University, 2016.
Disease prevention
Approach to respiratory disease in backyard chickens, MSPCA Angell.
Discusses common respiratory diseases that affect chickens, the causes of disease, and how to recognize symptoms.
Avian disease, U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Information about avian influenza (bird flu) and virulent Newcastle disease, symptoms, prevention, U.S. detection reporting, and related information.
Backyard poultry, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Information from the CDC regarding illnesses that can be spread from backyard poultry to humans and how to prevent them.
Poultry disease reporting form, Mass. Department of Agricultural Resources.
For reporting disease or death in domestic poultry, including chickens.
Protection from black bears and predators
Protect your chickens, bees, livestock, crops, and orchards from black bears, Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
Explains how to take action to protect your backyard chickens against black bears, including information on electric fencing. For more information, refer to the following pages:
Contact
Online
| Last updated: | June 12, 2026 |
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