diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 20cbb8f5dc82..a89419f03c24 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 - Matter fail to report Shutter status if no shutter is configured in Tasmota
 - Matter fix Waterleak broken after Berry solidification optimisation #21885
 - Berry avoid `readbytes()` from crashing when file is too large
+- Zigbee avoid disabling console serial on ESP32 and improved log messages
 
 ### Removed
 - Berry remove reuse of methods for interface-like code reuse #21500
diff --git a/tasmota/tasmota_xdrv_driver/xdrv_23_zigbee_9_serial.ino b/tasmota/tasmota_xdrv_driver/xdrv_23_zigbee_9_serial.ino
index 5decd1e393ad..d6453c24f49a 100644
--- a/tasmota/tasmota_xdrv_driver/xdrv_23_zigbee_9_serial.ino
+++ b/tasmota/tasmota_xdrv_driver/xdrv_23_zigbee_9_serial.ino
@@ -298,13 +298,25 @@ void ZigbeeInitSerial(void)
   if (PinUsed(GPIO_ZIGBEE_RX) && PinUsed(GPIO_ZIGBEE_TX)) {
 		AddLog(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG_MORE, PSTR(D_LOG_ZIGBEE "GPIOs Rx:%d Tx:%d"), Pin(GPIO_ZIGBEE_RX), Pin(GPIO_ZIGBEE_TX));
     // if TasmotaGlobal.seriallog_level is 0, we allow GPIO 13/15 to switch to Hardware Serial
-    ZigbeeSerial = new TasmotaSerial(Pin(GPIO_ZIGBEE_RX), Pin(GPIO_ZIGBEE_TX), TasmotaGlobal.seriallog_level ? 1 : 2, 0, 256);   // set a receive buffer of 256 bytes
+    int32_t uart_num = TasmotaGlobal.seriallog_level ? 1 : 2;
+    ZigbeeSerial = new TasmotaSerial(Pin(GPIO_ZIGBEE_RX), Pin(GPIO_ZIGBEE_TX), uart_num, 0, 256);   // set a receive buffer of 256 bytes
+    if (ZigbeeSerial == nullptr) {
+      AddLog(LOG_LEVEL_INFO, PSTR(D_LOG_ZIGBEE "Failed to allocate TasmotaSerial - aborting Zigbee"));
+      return;
+    }
+    if (!ZigbeeSerial->isValid()) {
+      AddLog(LOG_LEVEL_INFO, PSTR(D_LOG_ZIGBEE "Invalid Serial GPIOs - aborting Zigbee"));
+      delete ZigbeeSerial;
+      return;
+    }
     ZigbeeSerial->begin(115200);
+#ifdef ESP8266
     if (ZigbeeSerial->hardwareSerial()) {
       ClaimSerial();
 		}
+#endif // ESP8266
 #ifdef ESP32
-    AddLog(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR(D_LOG_ZIGBEE "Serial UART%d"), ZigbeeSerial->getUart());
+    AddLog(LOG_LEVEL_DEBUG, PSTR(D_LOG_ZIGBEE "Using Hardware Serial UART%d"), ZigbeeSerial->getUart());
 #endif  // ESP32
     zigbee_buffer = new SBuffer(ZIGBEE_BUFFER_SIZE);