The City of Ottawa should make changes to By-law No. 2003-77 Section 74 (1) which prohibits residents from keeping chickens in their backyards outside of the designated rural zones. The specific zoning conditions which must be met are unnecessarily prohibitive, and prevent most residents from keeping chickens. We ask that you review these conditions under the pretense that a) these by-laws are prohibitive without reasonable cause; and b) pre-existing food security challenges have been revealed due to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Some common concerns about the keeping of chickens are similar to those for pets. With this noted, the current by-laws regarding the keeping of chickens are prohibitive without reasonable cause. Regarding noise concerns: chickens produce little to no noise, especially when compared to the noise produced by an average household dog. Regarding animal welfare concerns: these are not very different from those of other household pets and concerns can be alleviated using similar frameworks built into the by-law. 

Specific by-law considerations that should be developed to enforce responsible chicken keeping include:

*enforcing a limit on the number of chickens allowed given specific space restrictions,

*prohibiting the keeping of roosters,

*enforcing guidelines similar to those for pets (guidelines for basic care and waste disposal),

*enforcing restrictions on coop size,

*prohibiting the sale of the eggs, and

*establishing rules regarding the slaughter of chickens.

The proper development and regulation of these by-laws will mitigate or eliminate these concerns. With the concerns surrounding the keeping of chickens addressed, it is equally important to consider the benefits of keeping chickens. Some of the benefits of keeping chickens include:

*ensuring the availability and accessibility of certain kitchen staples, especially during times of economic hardship, which can help alleviate systemic food insecurity,

*limiting residents’ time spent in grocery stores (most relevant to the current COVID-19 pandemic), 

*encouraging a local, community-based approach to food production, which can promote a lifestyle of “buying local” from approved local farms,

*implementing an “avoid, reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, and dispose” methodology, which can reduce the environmental footprint of participating households,  

*encouraging local composting and reuse of organic material, and

*controlling the tick, grub and mosquito population without the use of products which may damage local biodiversity or threaten the safety of pets and children.

This should encourage the City of Ottawa to review these by-laws. Given the City’s actions to improve the sustainability, well-being and food security of our communities, such as the designation of community gardens as an essential service during the COVID-19 pandemic, I urge you to reconsider allowing the keeping of backyard chickens.