Alabama's poultry compliance program combines environmental registration with animal health licensing: AFO best-management records that even non-CAFO operations must keep, a CAFO registration system built on weekly operator inspections and a QCP-certified waste management plan, wholesale egg dealer permits, hatchery and breeding-flock licensure through the NPIP program, import and exhibition health records, processing authorizations, and a mortality transport permit. Poultry Log's Alabama catalog records each requirement with its agency, authority, cadence, retention, and official source link.
Environmental Layer: BMP Records and CAFO Registration
Under ADEM Admin. Code rr. 335-6-7-.03, .14, and .20, every Alabama animal feeding operation must implement and maintain effective waste-management best management practices. The catalog records a point that surprises many operators: even an AFO that is not a CAFO must keep sufficient records to document its BMPs, no-discharge status, and why registration is not required, retained at least three years. Operations above the state CAFO thresholds, meeting discharge thresholds, using an inadequately planned liquid waste system, or designated by ADEM must register and operate under an approved, QCP-certified Waste Management System Plan, with annual registration, weekly operator records, an annual QCP inspection, five-year PE inspections for covered liquid structures, and waste-transfer logs. The catalog records the state thresholds explicitly: strictly greater than 55,000 turkeys, 125,000 poultry, or 5,000 ducks for large status, with lower discharge thresholds.
Animal Health and Trade
- Hatchery and breeding-flock licensure - backyard hatcheries, independent breeding flocks, chick dealers, and commercial hatcheries must obtain annual state licensure and satisfy the applicable Pullorum-Typhoid and NPIP-source requirements, under Code of Alabama 1975 section 2-16-3. Ordinary broiler or table-egg production that does not hatch or resell baby poultry sits outside these classifications.
- Import health records - poultry and hatching eggs entering Alabama need the required health testing and an official CVI or NPIP Form 9-2 or 9-3, under Ala. Admin. Code rr. 80-3-18-.02 and .04, with a slaughter-consigned waybill exception.
- Exhibition records - every chicken, turkey, or game bird exhibited in Alabama must be accompanied by an approved certificate or test chart showing NPIP Pullorum-Typhoid Clean origin or a negative test within 90 days before the exhibition opens.
Eggs, Processing, and Mortality
A person selling eggs as a dealer to a retailer or another wholesaler must obtain an annual Alabama Wholesale Egg Dealer Permit under Code of Alabama 1975 sections 2-12-4 and 2-12-6, due by October 1; a producer selling only eggs from their own hens is exempt unless they elect permit coverage. Poultry slaughtered or processed for sale must be handled under state or federal inspection or a documented exemption, with custom-exempt product marked Not For Sale. A grower moving poultry mortality to a renderer, landfill, or other mortality system must obtain ADAI Form VS 1-27 before transport, with the grower copy and related disposal records kept at least three years where Chapter 335-6-7 applies; burial is allowed only by ADAI permit for qualifying emergency or catastrophic mortality.
Where Poultry Log Fits
Poultry Log's Alabama catalog carries these requirements with official source links and form templates, in the same workspace as the daily records that feed them. The CAFO threshold context is covered in the CAFO permit guide, mortality records in the mortality and cull tracking guide, and the NPIP layer in the NPIP participation records guide. Confirm current requirements with ADEM and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries; completing a checklist does not certify legal compliance. Start free at poultrylog.com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do non-CAFO animal feeding operations in Alabama need records?
Yes. Under ADEM Admin. Code rr. 335-6-7-.03, .14, and .20, every Alabama AFO must implement effective waste-management BMPs, and even an operation that is not a CAFO must keep sufficient records to document its BMPs, no-discharge status, and why registration is not required, retained at least three years.
What are Alabama's CAFO registration thresholds for poultry?
The Poultry Log Alabama catalog records state thresholds of strictly greater than 55,000 turkeys, 125,000 poultry, or 5,000 ducks for large status, with lower discharge thresholds, plus designation or inadequate liquid-system triggers, under ADEM Admin. Code rr. 335-6-7-.09, .10, .13, .14, and .28.
How do Alabama growers move poultry mortality off the farm?
With ADAI Form VS 1-27 obtained before transport to a renderer, landfill, or other mortality system, under the ADAI-ADEM authorized methods guidance and ADEM Admin. Code r. 335-6-7-.20. Proper onsite composting or incineration does not use the transport permit, and burial is allowed only by ADAI permit for qualifying emergency mortality.