Poultry and Lagomorphs (Rabbits)

The poultry and Lagomorphs health section deals with the general control of animal health for the production of broilers (to be slaughtered) and layers producing eggs to be placed on the market. All the data concerning the population of live animals are kept in the National Livestock Database and there is full traceability of all poultry and poultry meat processed in local slaughterhouses. The poultry section regulates and enforces all the relevant legislation; performs periodical farm inspections to ensure compliance with all legislation and keeps updated records of all registered poultry farms; performs the samples for the Salmonella control in broilers and layers and collaborates with the National Veterinary Laboratory on the management of the suspected positive cases.

Concerning the rabbits, the section deals mainly with keeping an updated register of commercial rabbit breeders in Malta. This section in collaboration with the Intra-trade section, also supervise the importation of live rabbits in Malta, where it ensures that all breeding rabbits imported in Malta originate from countries free from notifiable diseases and that every consignment is accompanied by the necessary commercial documents. 

Objectives of the Unit:

• Registration and licensing of all poultry farms.
  
• Disease surveillance of all registered poultry farms.
  
• Registration and movement control of all poultry in the Maltese islands.
  
• Regulating and enforcement of all poultry and rabbit farms.
  
• Hygiene and welfare inspections of all poultry and rabbit farms.
  
• Keeping an updated database of all consignments of imported hatching eggs, and any further distribution of the hatched chickens

• Biosecurity Guidelines

• Salmonella National Control Programme​
  

 

​Application Forms

• ​​Registration for Rabbit Breeders MT​ | EN
  
• Application for Poultry Farms MT | EN​