Can you keep chickens in Township of Hamilton, NJ?
Hamilton lets you keep poultry, but a coop or pen can't sit within 100 feet of any door or window of a dwelling, and a real per-bird allowance (100 fowl per 1/4 acre) exists only in the rural RRC zone, so a normal suburban lot is tightly constrained.
The rules at a glance
| Chickens allowed | Yes, with conditions |
| Hens | No set count on a typical lot; the RRC rural zone allows up to 100 fowl per 1/4 acre |
| Roosters | Not addressed |
| Permit | None required by the animal code |
| Coop setback | No coop or pen within 100 ft of any door or window of a dwelling; in the RRC zone, 200 ft from every property line |
| Lot size | No general minimum; RRC density is measured per 1/4 acre |
| Ducks | Same rules as chickens |
Good to know
- The animals chapter is otherwise a dog/cat code; its only poultry rule is the 100-ft setback and sanitation clause.
- The 100-fowl-per-quarter-acre figure is a zoning agriculture provision for the RRC zone, not a small-lot backyard right.
- This is Hamilton Township in Mercer County (08609), not Hamilton Township in Atlantic County.
What about ducks?
Ducks are treated like chickens. Hamilton's rules cover poultry and fowl in general: coops and pens must be at least 100 feet from any door or window of a dwelling, and in the RRC zone up to 100 fowl per quarter acre may be kept 200 feet from property lines.
§ 108-5; § 550-73: "No person shall erect, construct or maintain within the Township any shed, coop, runway or pen, for horses, swine, sheep, goats, rabbits, poultry or pigeons, which is nearer than 100 feet to any door or window of a dwelling" Duck coops we build.
Building a coop in Township of Hamilton?
Triano Farms builds custom, predator-proof chicken coops on-site across Mercer 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.
Chicken rules in nearby Mercer County towns
Compare them side by side in the Mercer County table.
Ready to keep your flock safe?
Tell us about your animals and your land. We'll design a coop built to last, on-site, just for you.