City of Darwin’s new By-laws came into effect on 2 October 2023, introducing various changes for residents across our community. The only exception to the immediate enforcement was the By-law regarding the limit of two roosters and 20 chickens per eligible household. 

City of Darwin allowed a 12-month transitional period for the By-law exception which is now nearing its end, and we want to ensure that all stakeholders are aware of the upcoming changes.

The By-laws commence on 2 October 2024

The By-laws can be found here Legislation Database (nt.gov.au).

By-Law 78

Chickens and Roosters may only be kept in Darwin in adequately sized properties such as:

(i) Land zones as RL - Rural Living; or
(ii) Land used or developed for a single dwelling or a Lot Greater than 600m2; or
(iii) Land used or developed for a community garden or school. 

How many chickens can be kept?

No more than 20 Chickens and 2 Roosters should be kept at the premises. 

Animals must be properly contained on the premises. 

As the owner of the animal, you must ensure your animal is not a nuisance to people or other animals.

How to avoid nuisance behaviours

Stated in By-Law 78, an animal is taken to be a nuisance if it:

• is injurious or dangerous to the health of the community or another person or animal; or
• behaves repeatedly in a manner contrary to the general interest of the community or specific interests of another person; or
• creates a noise or an odour to a degree or extent that disturbs the reasonable mental, physical or social well-being of a person other than its owner; or
• defecates to a degree or extent that causes annoyance to a person other than its owner.

Roosters and chickens are very intelligent, can get bored, and may crow out of boredom. Roosters can crow at any time and not just to greet the sunrise. Arranging the chicken pen and keeping your animals entertained could avoid nuisance behaviours. 

Tips:

• Add in the pen: Perches, and cubby holes for your rooster to explore.
• Distract your rooster during the night with foods that require some effort to eat. Corncobs and dog puzzles are great for chickens! You can also hide some treats under the hay and in hiding holes. 
• Change up the environment regularly and keep your animals busy exploring the new set up. 
• If you have multiple roosters, consider setting up separate areas for each flock of hens to reduce conflict and competitive crowing. 
• A good management of your enclosure will avoid odours becoming a problem:
• A well-constructed poultry shelter helps minimise problems associated with keeping chickens and roosters, such as noise and odours. 
• Keep yards and enclosures clean and free from matter that may create offensive odours to neighbours. 
• Poultry feed should be stored in sealed containers. Only sufficient feed for your poultry should be given during the day, to avoid attracting vermin such as rats and snakes. 

Other tips and tricks

How to prevent excessive crowing 

• Roosters also crow as an alert to keep the flock protected against predators and other threats. Limiting visibility of external stimuli is effective to prevent the Roosters from reacting excessively to surrounding activity. 
• If you are thinking about getting chickens and roosters for the first time get informed and explore breeds. There are some breeds that have lower tendency to crow. 

If your rooster is crowing out of control you might want to try dark enclosures: 

• Dark houses can limit the visuals and the amount of light that could alert the roosters very early in the morning. 
• An artificial light can be installed in a dark house and used after sunset for a couple of hours to trick the roosters to a different perception of “the end of the day”. This way, you may achieve a morning crowing “alarm” set around 8am instead of early morning.