Can you keep chickens in Township of Elsinboro, NJ?

The rules at a glance

Good to know

• Chickens are Class III animals, a group that also covers geese, ducks, turkeys and other barnyard fowl; the 12-bird cap covers them all.
• The limits do not apply in an agricultural district or on a farm, which the code defines as more than 5 acres used to raise products for gain.
• Commercial poultry farms need a 10-acre parcel, and poultry farm applications need a county agricultural agent's opinion reviewed by the Planning Board.
• General purpose agriculture, which includes poultry, is a permitted use in every zone.

What about ducks?

Ducks follow the same rule as chickens. On a lot of at least 1 acre you may keep up to 12 barnyard fowl, ducks included, housed at least 200 feet from every property line.

§ 115-53A(3), B: "Class III animals: any feathered vertebrate animal, including, but not limited to, chickens, geese, ducks, turkeys, hens, pheasants or other animals commonly referred to as "barnyard fowl."" Duck coops we build.

Building a coop in Township of Elsinboro?

Triano Farms builds custom, predator-proof chicken coops on-site across Salem County and all of New Jersey, sized to your flock and built to your town's rules.

In an HOA? The town allowing hens is not the same as your association allowing them. What an HOA can and cannot stop.

New to this? Start with how to raise chickens in NJ, or what a coop costs.