A review of the regulatory framework relating to backyard poultry in Sydney and surrounding suburbs

There is an increasing trend of raising backyard poultry in urban and suburban settings across Australia, with Australian Egg Corporation Ltd. reporting backyard chicken coops accounting for almost 12 per cent of the nation's total egg production and 393 million eggs produced in metropolitan and regional gardens. However, there is no national or state legislation/policy in place currently for backyard poultry keeping and the issue is managed by local governments at a council level who may publish regulations and guidelines which are not often monitored or enforced. This study reviewed the regulatory framework that exists currently for keeping backyard poultry in the local councils of Sydney. The study also determined the level of this knowledge as understood by local veterinary practitioners.

The 43 Councils within Sydney were investigated to determine existing regulations. Eighty-one percent of the councils had no regulations pertaining to the housing of backyard chickens, 53% councils however had guidelines in place, 58% outlined housing requirements, 30% had a rooster ban in place, and 25% had restriction on bird numbers. Only three of the 43 councils issued fines for violation while only two councils provided information on vaccination requirements.

On classifying the councils into three regions (Inner City (N = 22), Suburbia (N = 13) and Outer Urban (N = 8)), it was evident that increased numbers of councils in the suburban stratum provided a regulatory framework (Figure 1).

An online questionnaire (containing 19 questions) developed using SurveyMonkey was sent to 24 listed avian veterinarians to determine their knowledge regarding regulations for backyard poultry keeping. Response data highlighted poultry visits were getting increasingly frequent, mainly for investigation of infectious diseases, respiratory problems and peritonitis. Knowledge of regulations at the local government level was acknowledged by 63% of respondents; yet, 75% of them did not provide this information to clients; however, 60% were comfortable with advising clients of biosecurity practices. All respondents were aware of notifiable diseases and the protocol for reporting notifiable disease outbreak. However, only 75% were aware that the Department of Agriculture provided a free service to determine the presence of a notifiable disease in private flocks. All veterinarians knew senior experts to confer with when faced with decision making and 87.5% conducted post mortem examinations on dead poultry and used disposal methods already employed by the clinic for the other animals.

Legislation for backyard poultry keeping needs to be developed and reviewed at council, state and federal levels in Australia in order to protect public health and the commercial poultry industry.