After lengthy debate, chicken bylaw on the way
90 minute discussion introduces many restrictions.
Council spent nearly an hour and a half of this week’s council meeting on the topic of chickens.
Eventually council settled on most decisions and instructed staff to come back with a final draft of the bylaw. This new bylaw is expected to be passed in September.
4 to 10 chickens allowed
The longest discussions were around the number of chickens homeowners would be allowed to own.
For the larger lots, most councillors wanted a set limit of 10, however some objected to this arbitrary number. Councillor Georges Pharand questioned if it made sense to restrict someone with an RR lot with over 10 acres to be restricted to simply 10 chickens. However since most were in agreement with some sort of limit, they settled on 10 chickens for any property larger than 1 acre.
The clerk then informed council that over 90% of city lots are under 1 acre so another discussion ensued. Councillor Kris Rivard was the first to speak on this subject insisting that he wanted chickens to be allowed in urban area but with a smaller number.
Councillors Jamie Restoule and Dan Gagne opined that they were not really in favour of urban chickens but if council was going that route, then they wanted to see a limit no higher than 4. Council was in general agreement as they stated this would be a fair number to feed a family, although some councillors indicated they had no idea how many eggs a chicken lays.
Restrictions
Like with the STR bylaw passed earlier this year, staff started with a long list of potential restrictions. Among the ones fortunately defeated was a prohibition on owning chickens in any hazard zones. Councillor Fern Pellerin noted that almost every house along lake Nipissing or the Sturgeon river are considered hazard zones so this restrictions would prohibit many homeowners.
Council was split on a restriction that would forbid chickens under 4 months of age. Councillor Kati Nicol objected to this restriction noting that there are many educational benefits of allowing families to raise chickens from birth. A vote resulted in eliminating this restriction as well.
Council did agree on prohibiting any sale of eggs and absolutely no roosters. It will also be illegal to slaughter or euthanize chickens or using the chicken manure in any way (i.e. as fertilizer).
Registration and Educational Requirements
Council was split on requiring a registration process but eventually voted in favour of having one.
Anyone who wants to own chickens in town will have to register with the city. This appears to be a one time requirement and will not involve any fees. Although many at city hall seemed oblivious to many aspects of hen raising, they did insist that homeowners undertake educational requirements that will be designed by them. Such mandatory educational details will be released later.
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You will have a hard time restricting ones right to self sustaining food options in a world he'll bent to use food creation as a tool for control by way of hunger. You will not deprive those of us with ability; nor will you prostitute them for it. We will feed our families free of your control and capitalization of those with self sustaining abilities. Come count them, I'm curious who the first one over my fence the last time will be 😉
Follow better and competent leadership. One that fixes more important issues like the water their citizens are drinking rather than the tax they ain't collecting on the eggs they force you to buy from the systems that line their pockets with in their controls.
Animal welfare is a huge concern for me. It is alarming that council & staff who seem to have zero knowledge or experience in keeping chickens are creating these regulations. They absolutely should have consulted with people who have raised and kept chickens, or with a veterinarian, or at the very least, done some of their own research. There are many books, publications, and on-line resources available which share the latest research on how to keep healthy chickens. Also, I wish they would stop copying other municipalities for bylaw wording and come up with something that works in West Nipissing.