Can you keep chickens in Borough of Roseland, NJ?

The rules at a glance

Good to know

• The nuisance code lists keeping chickens without special written Board of Health permission as a nuisance.
• The 100 ft rule covers any shed, coop, pen or run for fowl or rabbits, and it says 'any building', not only neighbors' homes.
• A separate $100 Board of Health permit covers more than 3 animals kept within 100 ft of a home or 50 ft of a property line; the code doesn't say whether chickens count.
• Searches of the zoning chapter found no poultry rule.

What about ducks?

Unclear. Roseland's special-permission rule names chickens, not ducks, though its 100-foot coop setback applies to any fowl; ask the Board of Health before keeping ducks.

§ BH9-2b(14), § BH9-2k: "The keeping of swine, cows, horses or chickens except by special written permission of the Board of Health." Duck coops we build.

Building a coop in Borough of Roseland?

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