Daily BrewEdmonton launches backyard chicken farming pilot project
It seems Edmonton may be ready to exchange the nickname of the "City of Champions" in for the "City of Chickens."
According to the Edmonton Journal, Alberta's capital has approved a pilot project that will allow residents to keep hens in their backyard, part of a once-exciting trend toward urban farming.
City officials will allow a dozen applicants to have between four and 10 hens as part of the pilot project, despite voicing concerns about the project, including:
that some people will let their chickens roam
that chickens will attract coyotes to the city
that chicken coops will go uncleaned
that the birds will spread diseases.
Good news, Edmonton. Several other Canadian cities have already flown with the flock on this and have some horror stories, and victories, to share.
Some 300 cities across North America are said to permit backyard chicken farms, including several major Canadian destinations.
Vancouver, Victoria, B.C., and Montreal have all opened their cities up to backyard chicken farms, though the National Post reported last year of Montreal animal shelters being inundated with abandoned hens.
Guelph, Ont., also allows in-city egg collecting. And in Alberta, communities such as Ford Saskatchewan, Black Diamond, Turner Valley and Red Deer have either pilot projects or full-on laws allowing urban chicken farms.
Despite the progress seen in many regions, several major Canadian cities still balk at the idea of backyard chickens.
Winnipeg city council ducked out of the debate last year, though the Winnipeg Urban Chicken Association continues to work toward urban farming.
Toronto has had a ban against urban chicken since 1987, yet in recent years the debate has been pushed to the forefront by guerrilla chicken farmers. A city committee voted down the idea of reconsidering the ban in 2012, leaving the matter very much under the table. Many people continue to raise egg-giving chickens, hoping bylaw officers won't catch wind.
Last year, Lorraine Johnson, author of City Farmer, told Yonge Street Media that she was once chased out of her home by bylaw enforcement officers after her neighbours reported her urban farm.
"I moved about six blocks north, where my neighbours are equally happy with the hens, and for whatever reason the bylaw officers did not pursue me," she said.
A backyard chicken farmer in neighbouring Mississauga, Ont., launched a petition last year to overturn that's city's own anti-fowl bylaw. To date, the petition has not reached its target of 1,000 signatures.
Calgary was home to one of the more colourful legal battles over backyard chicken farms. In 2009, an urban farmer by the name of Paul Hughes called city bylaw officials and ratted himself out for keeping chickens in the city, in an effort to spark a constitutional battle on the subject.
The matter made it to court in 2012, but the court ruled against his arguments, which included a claim it was a financial burden to buy eggs at the store.
One wonders what Edmonton sees that Calgary doesn't. It's winters are as harsh or harsher, its citizenry no less susceptible to the noxious odors or bothersome sounds.
But what the heck, why not give it a try? As we've seen in those cities that don't allow backyard chicken coops, it's going to happen anyway.
