City allows chickens to come home and roost

Four Toronto wards will participate in a pilot project allowing for backyard coops

Trish Tervit’s “Taj Mahal” of backyard chicken coops will soon have new tenants after council’s decision Tuesday to approve a pilot project in four Toronto wards.

In 2010, Tervit got three chicks to mostly entertain and educate her two daughters.

They helped keep the backyard clean, there was no increase in raccoons or other pests and the only noise was a little daytime clucking.

Still, somebody in her upper Beaches neighbourhood complained and, after a warning from the city and a decisive 2013 council decision closing the door on backyard coops, Tervit gave away her “girls” to a farm outside the city.

On Tuesday, council reversed course and approved a pilot project that will allow Toronto residents in wards 5 (Etobicoke-Lakeshore), 13 (Parkdale—High Park), 21 (St. Paul’s) and 32 (Beaches—East York) — Tervit’s east-end ward — to keep up to four chickens in their backyards.

“I adored having the chickens,” Tervit said. “We got used to having fresh eggs and fun little pets. When I heard the (council vote) news today, there was no guesswork — I’m already Googling where to get some chicks, we’ll have some within days,” she said.

The 23-14 council vote removes chickens from the city’s list of prohibited animals.

Chickens will not be allowed in apartment buildings, condominiums or properties without sufficient outdoor space. Eggs produced by the hens cannot be sold and roosters will not be allowed in the henhouse. Participants will have to register and agree to regular inspections.

The proposed pilot will go into effect by the end of October and will operate for up to three years with an interim review at 18 months. “It’s a good day for Torontonians. Chickens are already in our community, this normalizes a practice frankly that is around the world,” Councillor Joe Mihevc said after the vote.

“To have a few pets in your backyard that also have the benefit of producing eggs, there’s nothing wrong with it from a public health perspective, from a nuisance perspective, they are as clean as cats and dogs, they are as clean as the owners who keep care of them.”

Council critics said the public had not been adequately consulted prior to the debate and decision. “This is ridiculous, government at its worst,” Councillor Jon Burnside said.

Nevertheless, a majority of councillors voted down a motion to refer the pilot project to the city’s licensing division to hold public consultations.

City staff did not back the move to legalize backyard hens.

“Research indicates that the primary human health risk of keeping chickens is infectious disease transmission, such as Salmonella,” a staff report said. “Another important consideration is the potential public nuisance problems that might arise from the keeping of chickens. Some of these concerns arise from noise and odour.” As well, keeping chickens outdoors in poor enclosures and coops “may present animal care, welfare risks for chickens and attract pests such as flies, mice, rats, skunks and raccoons, and coyotes.”

While the debate around chickens grabbed all the attention, council voted to delay the come into force date for the deletion of the prohibited animals’ exception from educational programs from July 1, 2017 to Jan. 1, 2018.

Council voted last December to end the exemption that allowed prohibited animals to be used for educational purposes. After Jan. 1, prohibited animals, including snakes greater than three metres, tigers and all poisonous and venomous animals, will not be permitted to be used for private or public events, such as school visits or birthday parties.