Can you keep chickens in Hamilton Township (Atlantic), NJ?

The rules at a glance

Good to know

• Nuisances § 217-3 makes it a nuisance to keep fowl whose frequent or habitual crowing disturbs a neighbor of reasonable sensitivity.
• The Animals chapter, replaced in full in 2020, covers dogs, cats, swine feeding and shelters. It has no poultry article.
• Land Use § 203-20 allows livestock and poultry in the Agricultural District. The residential districts say nothing about poultry.
• Searched the full code for poultry, chicken, fowl, livestock and domestic animals. No keeping-of-chickens provision exists.

What about ducks?

Hamilton Township bans feeding domestic ducks on private land outside farm operations, but its backyard rule does not say whether ducks may be kept, so ask the township first.

§ 105-19 (Domestic waterfowl); § 105-20A; § 105-21: "DOMESTIC WATERFOWL Nonnative ducks, geese and swans not retained in agricultural operations. ... No person shall feed, cause to be fed or provide food for domestic or migratory waterfowl on any public or private lands" Duck coops we build.

Building a coop in Hamilton Township (Atlantic)?

Triano Farms builds custom, predator-proof chicken coops on-site across Atlantic 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.