Can you keep chickens in Township of Ocean (Ocean County), NJ?

The rules at a glance

Good to know

• Fowl are Class IV animals, which covers chickens, hens, ducks, turkeys, cocks and pheasants.
• A shelter building of standard design with a fully enclosed coop is required.
• Class I wild animals are banned outright, and horses and cattle carry their own acreage rules.
• Breaking these rules is declared a public nuisance and can be abated at the owner's expense.

What about ducks?

Yes, but the setbacks are strict. Ocean Township's fowl class names ducks, so ducks need the same coop and the same 50-foot lot-line and 100-foot house setbacks. A separate rule bans feeding waterfowl, including ducks, on private property, so confirm with the township.

§ 95-2 (Classes of animals); §§ 95-2 to 95-8; § 95-17: "Fowl, including but not limited to chickens, hens, ducks, turkeys, cocks, pheasants or barnyard-type birds raised for meat or otherwise." Duck coops we build.

Building a coop in Township of Ocean (Ocean County)?

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