Northern Ont. council considers allowing backyard chicken coops

West Nipissing considers backyard chickens If a bylaw gains enough support, West Nipissing’s residents could be permitted to rule the roost when it comes to backyard chickens.

Could West Nipissing’s residents be permitted to rule the roost when it comes to backyard chickens?

Council is considering options to permit and regulate residents in urban residential areas to keep backyard chickens through potentially a new bylaw.

The results of a public survey completed earlier this year found a majority of people support the notion.

Sylvie Chemery wants to keep backyard chickens.

“My children and have them and it’s really helpful,” she said.

“It helps economically and we’d have fresh eggs every day.”

A public survey conducted in April found 79 per cent of respondents supported having chickens in the urban centre while 92 per cent like the idea of having chickens on rural properties.

Under current bylaws, keeping chickens is only allowed in agricultural and rural areas of the municipality.

Norman Kelly doesn’t want to necessarily have his own backyard chickens, but wouldn’t mind his neighbours having them.

“If you own your own house and pay your own taxes then I think you have the right to have chickens in your own backyard,” Kelley said.

Cleanliness a concern

The survey found that the three main concerns residents have about backyard chickens in urban areas are keeping roosters, the number of hens that would be allowed and overall cleanliness.

“I am not in favour of it because of the noise. I’m not even in favour of having birds fly by,” said Helen Morrison.

Despite support from the public, some members of council are walking on eggshells.

“At the end of the day my vote is only one of nine,” said West Nipissing Mayor Kathleen Thorne Rochon.

“I look forward to participating in the debate about how something like this should be structured. My vote will depend on where we land.”

Rochon isn’t necessarily against the idea, but said neighbours could run afoul of each other over backyard chickens.

"My position is when you get into the denser residential areas, it becomes a more complicated matter with rental properties and multi-residential properties,” she said.

'Nitty-gritty' issues

“When we get down the nitty-gritty of having chickens, those types of issues would only really apply to our urban areas.”

Across the province, only 26 of the 444 municipalities permit backyard chickens in urban settings.

Several northeastern Ontario communities have looked at making changes to the rules of where farm animals are allowed, but only a few have actually done it. Nearby South River and Powassan both allow the practice of backyard chickens, but Sudbury and North Bay do not.

The idea of chickens has been brought before the councils of West Nipissing's neighbours, French River, St. Charles and Markstay-Warren. A bylaw for the communities is currently in the process of seeking public input.

“Everyone should have their own chickens then everyone can have their own eggs,” said Chemery.

Council plans to debate and discuss a potential backyard chicken bylaw at its next meeting.