Photo by Vince Fedoroff
BYLAW A PECK OF TROUBLE – Kristina Calhoun, seen with her brood Thursday, is encouraging supporters of in-city chicken-keeping to flock to Tuesday evening's city council meeting.
Chickens shouldn't run afowl of the law: resident
The city will hold public consultations on possible changes to the zoning bylaw,
The city will hold public consultations on possible changes to the zoning bylaw, including potentially permitting chickens to be kept in urban backyards.
Mike Gau, the city's manager of planning and development services, said chickens in Whitehorse were one of the most popular ideas to come out of public meetings last year on the city's Official Community Plan (OCP).
The plan, which was adopted in October 2010, says the city will support local food production, including non-soil based agricultural pursuits like chickens. However, it is "subject to zoning controls.”
Gau said a number of changes in the OCP require the zoning bylaws to be adjusted.
Currently, city animal control bylaws forbid anyone from owning poultry or pigeons on their property except in designated country residential subdivisions.
The fine for breaking the bylaw is $75.
Riverdale resident Kristina Calhoun is planning to speak in front of council this Tuesday after being given until Sept. 8 to get rid of the six chickens and six roosters she keeps in her backyard.
Calhoun, the Green Party's first territorial candidate in the upcoming election, said the warning from bylaw officers last week stems from neighbours' complaints about her roosters' noise.
"I completely understand that,” she said Thursday. "I plan to butcher the roosters but I would like to keep the chickens.”
As it turns out, all may not be lost.
City bylaw manager Dave Pruden said today officials will "wait and see how things go” before forcing Calhoun to get rid of her chickens.
"Obviously, it would be pretty unfair for us to tell her to get rid of them and then in two months change the laws,” Pruden said.
Calhoun. who has raised other chickens in the past, said her chickens produce one egg each a day.
"When I got them, all the neighbourhood kids loved them; everyone wanted to come over and play with the chicks,” she said.
Calhoun's chantecler chickens are a breed native to Canada.
The bird is particularly suitable for colder weather. It has a shorter comb and waddle, making it less likely to get frostbite.
Calhoun said keeping chickens has many benefits.
"I think it is important for food security that people are able to produce their own food,” she said. "I also appreciate that I know exactly what the chickens eat so I know what is in the food we eat.”
A stay-at-home mom with a young daughter, Calhoun said trading the eggs with her neighbours for homemade bread or vegetables allows her to save money.
Calhoun said this morning she hadn't heard from the city about extending the deadline to get rid of her chickens.
"If that's true, I think that's fantastic,” she said.
Calhoun is working on a petition she will present to council, but also hopes people will show up to Tuesday's meeting to show their support for changing the laws.
The council meeting will start at 7:30 p.m.
By ASHLEY JOANNOU
Star Reporter
Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar
In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.
Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.
Comments (2)
Up 0 Down 0
bobby bitman on Sep 3, 2011 at 2:02 am
These chickens look well cared for and hens are very quiet. They do not kill anything other than bugs. They do not attack kids or pets, or dig up other people's lawns or gardens. Actually, they are pretty decent little neighbours! Having had chickens myself, I know that a small flock like this barely has an odour at all once you are outside their coop (the wooden box). I do not see any reason to deny a person the right to keep healthy, well cared for birds in their back yard.
Another benefit to this kind of food production is that it reduces suffering and cruelty in the world. It prevents an equal number of birds from being kept in a factory farm where they live their entire life in a space too small to stand upright on a space smaller than a sheet of 8x11 paper.
Visit "FARM" on facebook to read the details if you are interested, or do a quick google on factory farming, and 'battery hen' egg production in particular. It is just gross. No wonder people want to 'grow their own'! Stick it to the factory farms! Up with Chickens!
Up 0 Down 0
Francias Pillman on Sep 2, 2011 at 10:17 am
Terrible idea. I see the issue of noise has been raised already, good. I'm not against people producing their own food but this is a bad idea for the city. Out of town is a better solution. Can you imagine everyone of your neighbors owning chickens? I can just imagine how much of a disturbance that would cause. By law everyone has a right to a quiet home. So I don't see this as being an acceptable plan. But leave it to the COW to wreck your peace and quiet.