Backyard Poultry Navigation
Backyard poultry owners in New Zealand are a very diverse group ranging from casual keepers that maintain small flocks as a source of eggs and companionship to devoted enthusiasts who breed and show their birds as a way of sharing their love for poultry with others.
Very little is currently known about either the total number of households that keep backyard poultry or the total number of backyard birds since there is no requirement for owners with less than 100 birds to register their flocks with a national organisation. However, based on data from the 2020 Companion Animals New Zealand (CANZ) survey, there could be more than 50,000 households with poultry and over 500,000 backyard birds currently living in New Zealand.
The main regulations around keeping backyard poultry are set locally by individual city councils. These usually include restrictions around the number and type of birds that can be kept as well as general guidelines around how poultry should be housed and maintained.
All backyard poultry keepers are expected to keep their birds in conditions that meet standards set by the Code of Welfare. However, many owners are not aware of what their birds need to stay happy and healthy. This is likely leading to significant medical and behavioural issues in their flock that could have easily been prevented. Very few backyard poultry owners currently seek advice from a veterinarian when setting up their flock or when concerns arise so there is also very little information is available on the health status of these populations.
While there is currently no national organisation similar to PIANZ or EPF that represents the interests of backyard poultry keepers in New Zealand. there is network of poultry clubs across the country dedicated to the breeding and showing of these birds. These groups have done a lot of work raising standards for poultry and communicating with their members.
If you want to find out more about this fascinating world, check out the 2017 documentary Pecking Order. There are also many Facebook groups that have been set-up to allow exchange of information between poultry owners. However, most discussions are not moderated by poultry experts and the advice or recommendations that are given should be taken with caution.
In addition to concerns over the general welfare of backyard poultry, studies have also shown that there are potential risks from a food safety and public health perspective:
A 2011 study by Anderson and colleagues took samples of manure from 291 backyard poultry flocks in urban and rural regions in Canterbury, New Zealand to look for Campylobacter jejuni, a bacteria that causes many notifiable cases of gastrointestinal disease in people.They found that 86% of flocks tested positive meaning that people in the household were potentially at risk of getting sick from contact with the manure or contamination of any meat or eggs they may have consumed from poultry in their flock.
A 2019 study by Cowie and Gartrell found that more than half of eggs sampled from 30 backyard poultry flocks contained lead levels that were high enough to be concerning for human health if they were consumed. Levels were higher in eggs produced on properties with homes built before 1941 and homes that were constructed from weatherboard, which was most likely related to chickens foraging around yards that were contaminated with lead.
For more information on how to keep you and your family safe from disease issues affecting poultry flocks, check out our Keeping Your Family Safe section.