“Urban chickens allowed on Halifax peninsula” ran a CBC headline last week, and quickly social media celebrated liberation of urban fowl. But while this may seem like a victory for lovers of fowl, city spokesperson Brendan Elliott is quick to equivocate.
“The land use bylaw is silent on the issue of chickens,” says Elliot. “We aren’t therefore able to enforce anything but we aren’t saying we are now allowing them either.”
Understand? Neither do we. But the end result is people on the peninsula can have chickens without fear of arrest. (The situation in Dartmouth is less clear.)
Though no change has been made to the bylaws, Louise Hanavan, one of the Halifax’s first chicken advocates, believes the city’s current position has been a long time coming.
“It’s definitely a pretty simple answer, which is we don’t have a bylaw against chickens,” says Hanavan. “It’s what we’ve been saying from the beginning.”
Hanavan said goodbye to her chickens a few years ago when the fowl issues first arose. Though some of those issues have since been resolved, Hanavan doesn’t think she will rush back out to get chickens any time soon.
“I think it’s still an eccentric thing to do,” says Hanavan.
She believes it’s certain kind of people who love animals, want to develop a closer relationship with their food and have the time to take care of the feathery creatures who will continue to advocate for the hobby.
Elliot suggests that if people want to get chickens they should do their homework first.
“We have certainly not done an about-face,” says Elliot, referring to what clearly is, in fact, an about-face. “It’s still the same position as before. If you’re going to look at bringing in chickens it’s the same as putting on a deck. Call the department and find out what the rules are for the city.
This article appears in Jul 25-31, 2013.
I understand the rationale for wanting to keep chickens as a source of local food that you can control as opposed to buying eggs from unknown industrial farms, etc. and would not dispute this at all. But can’t we all be reasonable enough to admit that there are parts of the city where it is not appropriate to keep chickens regardless of whether you have the right to do so? I think we should still maintain respect for our neighbours and not keep chickens in the densely populated areas of the city.
In response to the comment by “Nayer: “…there are parts of the city where it is not appropriate to keep chickens…”
What is fascinating about chickens is that they aren’t inappropriate in urban areas. If there is any sort of space and a basic level of care, they are no more of a burden in the city than a well-trafficked bird-feeder.
On the issue of urban hen-keeping, I’d suggest people meet an urban chicken-keeper before they form a strong opinion. Actually seeing what is involved -the reality “on the ground”- is the only way to know. Everything else is simply speculation.
If people want to learn more about hen-keeping in Halifax, “like” HFX HENS on Facebook, at facebook.com/HFXHENS