Keeping poultry and pigeons

There are no large commercial poultry farms in the Northern Territory (NT).

A few small producers do sell free-range eggs. Many small flocks are kept for household supplies.

Property identification codes

You must have a property identification code for your property if you keep poultry, pigeons or other livestock, regardless of the size of your property, the number of animals you have, or if they are pets.

Read how to get a property identification code.

Moving poultry and pigeons

There are no biosecurity requirements on moving poultry and pigeons into or around the NT, however you must follow the welfare standards for transporting poultry.

For more information read about moving and exporting livestock.

Poultry disease and management information

To find out more about raising and keeping backyard poultry read the following:

• keeping chickens in the NT (837.3 kb)
• nutritional management of geese (20.2 kb).
• egg production - go to the Australian Egg Corporation Limited website.

You can find out more about poultry diseases, including their prevention and treatment, in the following resources:

• botulism in chickens, ducks and others (50.1 kb)
• disease prevention in a small flock (62.3 kb)
• external parasites (20.7 kb)
• infectious diseases (71.6 kb)
• internal parasites - worms (31.5 kb)
• non-infectious diseases (35.9 kb)
• bird flu: what bird keepers should know and do (114.3 kb)
• more disease information - go to the Poultry Hub website.

Keeping pigeons

For more information about keeping pigeons go to the following websites:

• Australian National Pigeon Association
• South Australian Homing Pigeon Association.

Exhibiting poultry

Find out more by watching the exhibition bird biosecurity video on YouTube or reading the national biosecurity manual for exhibition poultry on the Australian Government's Department of Agriculture and Water Resources website.