Skip to content

Poultry Registration

You must register within one month of keeping poultry or other captive birds at any premises in England or Wales. This includes:

  • any birds you keep as pets
  • if you regularly sell or deal in birds from the premises (check the gatherings guidance to see whether you also need a gatherings licence)

You’re breaking the law if you do not register.

Read different guidance if you keep a total of 50 or more poultry or other captive birds at any premises in England or Wales.

When you do not need to register

You do not need to register psittaciformes or passeriformes (such as budgies, parrots, cockatiels, canaries and finches) if they are both:

  • fully housed in a dwelling (your home or another indoor structure)
  • with no access to the open air

You must register if you take your birds outdoors at any time – for example, to exercise or train them, or to take them to bird gatherings such as exhibitions or shows. You do not need to register to take an exempt bird to a veterinary practice. 

How to register

If you have a County Parish Holding (CPH) number 

You can register in 2 ways, either by: 

If you do not have a CPH number 

You can register online – it should take about 10 minutes. 

We’ll ask you for: 

  • your contact details 
  • details of the owner of the birds (if this is not you) 
  • the location where you keep the birds 
  • details of the birds you keep (species, number and what you keep them for) 

Start now

By registering:

  • the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) will contact you with updates and guidance if there’s a disease outbreak (such as bird flu) in your area
  • you’ll help prevent the spread of disease and protect all kept birds, including back-yard flocks

Get help

If you need help registering contact APHA:

After you have registered

You must confirm your details and the details of the birds you keep to APHA every 12 months.

If your details or the details of birds you keep have changed, you must tell APHA within 30 days. This includes when you:

  • change your contact details
  • no longer keep or own birds
  • change the species or number of birds your keep
  • change your main purpose for keeping birds

You can update your kept bird record online or:

Legislation 

The requirement to register within one month of keeping poultry or other captive birds at any premises in England or Wales is set out in the: 

Keeper of 50 or more poultry

You’ll need this information to complete the form:

  • your contact details
  • details of the person or company that owns or rents your site
  • your site’s location and county parish holding (CPH) number - (find out how to get a permanent CPH number in England and Wales)
  • details of the birds you keep and how you farm them (species, number you usually keep, what you keep them for, your farming system)
  • how many birds of each species you usually keep each month (your stocking arrangements)
  • a list of other livestock you keep on the site

Keeper of 50 or more other captive birds 

You’ll need this information to complete the form: 

  • your contact details 
  • details of the person or company that owns or rents your site
  • your site’s location  
  • details of the birds you keep (species, number you usually keep, what you keep them for) 
  • how many birds of each species you usually keep each month (your stocking arrangements)

Get help

If you need help completing registration forms, contact the Customer Registration Team:

After you have registered  

You must confirm your details and the details of the birds you keep to APHA every 12 months.

If your details or the details of birds you keep have changed, you must tell APHA within 30 days. This includes when you:

  • change your contact details
  • no longer keep or own birds
  • change the species or number of birds your keep
  • change your main purpose for keeping birds

You can update your kept bird record online or:

Disease alerts

You do not need to sign up to receive disease alerts for notifiable poultry diseases if you’ve registered as a poultry keeper.

To receive email and text alerts for other exotic notifiable diseases, register with the APHA alerts service.

Pollution prevention and control (PPC) permits

If your premises can hold more than 40,000 birds, you may need to apply for a PPC permit. Read guidance from:

Last reviewed:
Previous Poultry and captive birds reporting page Next Bluetongue Virus