Backyard chickens

Whether you're a commercial producer, or only keep a few chickens in your backyard, you need biosecurity practices in place to ensure your hens are happy and healthy, and to protect your family from illness.

Before getting chickens

• Before buying chickens, check your local council requirements.  
• Quarantine new chickens. Separate and monitor new chickens for at least 30 days before introducing them to your existing flock, and always source chickens from a reputable producer or breeder.  
• Prior to purchase, check which vaccinations the chickens have received and then, in consultation with your veterinarian, maintain a vaccination program.

Ongoing care, hygiene and biosecurity

• Implement good hygiene and biosecurity to help safeguard against unwanted diseases, some of which affect both people and chickens, including Avian influenza and Salmonella Enteritidis.
• Always wash your hands after handling chickens or eggs.
• Poultry housing hygiene is critical - nesting, roosting areas and enclosures should be sanitised regularly.
• Don't let feed or water become contaminated by faeces or other waste products. Clean feeders, drinkers and storage tanks and bins regularly and ensure the feed and water supply is from a source that is free of contact with wild birds and rodents. Poultry need clean, fresh and safe feed and water, just like we do.
• Avoid visiting places with other birds if you have your own as this could facilitate the moment of diseases between flocks.
• Limit visitors to your chickens or ask visitors to wear clean boots and clothing or provide personal protective equipment.
• Avoid contact between your chickens and wild birds by restricting access to open ponds, lakes and creeks as water birds are known carriers of disease. Use netting to protect domestic bird areas.
• Know the signs of disease which can include swollen heads, dullness, drop in egg production, respiratory distress, diarrhoea, loss of appetite, or sudden death of several or more birds.  
• If you see any unusual signs of disease, or death in your chickens, call your veterinarian, your Local Land Services District Veterinarian or the Emergency Animal Disease Hotline on 1800 675 888.

Cleaning eggs

Discard cracked, damaged or heavily soiled eggs.  

Lightly soiled eggs should be cleaned with a dry cloth or a tissue. Never wash your eggs with water as it makes them porous and can enable bacteria on the surface to penetrate and contaminate the egg.

Looking to sell your eggs?

If you sell your eggs, you are considered a food business and certain requirements apply.

If you sell less than 20 dozen (240 eggs) a week, you are required to 'notify' your details with the NSW Food Authority as a small egg farm. You can notify online, free of charge.  

Labelling and egg stamping requirements may also apply. For more information, see small egg farms. See also the factsheet Requirements for small egg farms (PDF, 251 KB).

Larger egg producers selling more than 20 dozen eggs per week need to apply for a Food Authority licence.

Salmonella  Enteritidis (SE) 

All people working with poultry, from commercial producers to those with a few backyard chickens, have a role in helping to stop the spread of Salmonella Enteritidis.  

Salmonella is a bacteria commonly found in animals, including poultry. It can cause illness to humans such as gastroenteritis (commonly known as ‘gastro’) when contaminated food is consumed.  

One of the main ways it can be introduced onto farms is through the movement of contaminated people, for example, on their clothes or shoes. It can also be spread from farm to farm through the movement of vehicles, equipment and machinery, birds, eggs, manures, produce, feed and rodents.

Farms in NSW producing more than 20 dozen (240) eggs per week are required to comply with enforceable requirements to minimise food safety risks from Salmonella Enteritidis. While small egg farms are exempt from these mandatory requirements, the guide How to comply with Schedule 8 – control of Salmonella Enteritidis (PDF, 2.8 MB) provides valuable information for all egg producers about on-farm biosecurity and food safety measures.

More information

• Poultry - Department of Primary Industries
• Resources for egg farmers – Australian Eggs
• Enjoy eggs safely