Can you keep chickens in Pohatcong Township, NJ?

The rules at a glance

Good to know

• Not allowed on multiunit properties, HOA common-ownership properties, or properties run by a management company or landlord.
• Coop must be covered, ventilated and predator/rodent resistant: 4 sq ft per bird with equal outdoor space, or 10 sq ft per bird without.
• Birds must stay inside fencing at least 4 ft high; droppings collected at least weekly and stored in a covered container.
• Separately, zoning § 285-31 requires 2 acres for up to 12 free-ranging fowl plus 1 acre per extra dozen (max 100), and a waste disposal plan approved by the extension service or Soil Conservation District. Farmland-assessed properties are exempt from the 6-bird rules.

What about ducks?

Yes. Pohatcong's rule covers 'chickens and other poultry,' and its code-wide definitions list ducks as fowl, so ducks count toward the same limit of 6 birds, in a covered, fenced enclosure in the side or rear yard.

§ 89-26; § 123-3B: "FOWL Chicken, geese, ducks, guineas, pheasants, peacocks, excluding large birds" Duck coops we build.

Building a coop in Pohatcong Township?

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