Register as a keeper of 50 or more poultry or other captive birds
Source: gov.uk (2025-08-19)

How to register if you keep 50 or more birds, including any you keep as pets.

This guidance is for keepers of 50 or more poultry or other captive birds.

There’s different guidance to register as a keeper of less than 50 poultry or other captive birds in England and Wales (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/register-as-a-keeper-of-less-than-50-poultry-or-other-captive-birds).

You must register within one month of keeping poultry or other captive birds at any premises in England or Wales.

You’re breaking the law if you do not register.

If you’ve already registered, you do not need to register again.

Keeper of 50 or more poultry

You’ll need this information to complete the form:
- your contact details
- details of the person or company that owns or rents your site
- your site’s location and county parish holding (CPH) number - (find out how to get a permanent CPH number in England (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apply-for-a-county-parish-holding-cph-number) and Wales (https://www.gov.wales/get-county-parish-holding-cph-number))
- details of the birds you keep and how you farm them (species, number you usually keep, what you keep them for, your farming system)
- how many birds of each species you usually keep each month (your stocking arrangements)
- a list of other livestock you keep on the site
Keeper of 50 or more other captive birds

You’ll need this information to complete the form:
- your contact details
- details of the person or company that owns or rents your site
- your site’s location
- details of the birds you keep (species, number you usually keep, what you keep them for)
- how many birds of each species you usually keep each month (your stocking arrangements)
Get help

If you need help completing registration forms, contact the Customer Registration Team:
- by phone on xx-xxxx-xxxx (lines are open 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday)
- by email at xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)
After you have registered

You must confirm your details and the details of the birds you keep to APHA every 12 months.

If your details or the details of birds you keep have changed, you must tell APHA within 30 days. This includes when you:
- change your contact details
- no longer keep or own birds
- change the species or number of birds your keep
- change your main purpose for keeping birds
You can update your kept bird record online (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/update-your-kept-bird-record) or:
- email: xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)
- call xx-xxxx-xxxx – lines are open 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday
Disease alerts

You do not need to sign up to receive disease alerts for notifiable poultry diseases if you’ve registered as a poultry keeper.

To receive email and text alerts for other exotic notifiable diseases, register with the APHA alerts service (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apha-alert-subscription-service).

Pollution prevention and control (PPC) permits

If your premises can hold more than 40,000 birds, you may need to apply for a PPC permit. Read guidance from:
- the Environment Agency (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/a1-installations-environmental-permits) if you farm in England
- the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (https://www.sepa.org.uk/contact/) (SEPA) if you farm in Scotland
- Natural Resources Wales (https://naturalresources.wales/permits-and-permissions/environmental-permits/guidance-to-help-you-comply-with-your-environmental-permit/?lang=en) if you farm in Wales