Council hatches pilot project to allow backyard chickens in select wards

By The Canadian Press and News staff

Residents in some Toronto neighbourhoods will be allowed to keep chickens in their backyards under a pilot project approved Tuesday by city council.

The pilot will run in four city wards over the next three years with an interim review in 18 months. At that time, city staff will review the data and decide whether to expand the project to the rest of the wards.

The wards are Ward 5 Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ward 13 Parkdale-High Park, Ward 21 St. Paul’s, and Ward 32 Beaches-East York.

Residents can keep up to four chickens and must register with the city. Roosters won’t be permitted.

Chickens would not be allowed in apartment buildings, condominiums or properties without sufficient outdoor space.

The pilot project is expected to launch next spring.

A survey included in a city staff report filed in May suggested that lifting the ban on chickens could be a popular move.

“There is nothing wrong with it from a public health perspective [and] from a nuisance perspective. They are as clean as cats and dogs. They are as clean as the owners that take care of them,” Coun. Joe Mihevc said on Tuesday.

Coun. Justin Di Ciano said his father has had chickens in his backyard for more than five years and they’re still laying eggs.

“He’s got five of them,” Di Ciano said. “The neighbours love them. My children certainly love them.

“He doesn’t throw food away anymore. He’s got no more organic waste because it all goes to the chickens … and there’s really a peaceful, serenity to it all when you are able to go back and see them.

“Chickens are very social animals so they become pets long after they stop laying eggs.”

Opponents of the pilot have argued it will generate complaints and tie up the city’s bylaw enforcement officers.

“We shouldn’t have livestock in the city,” said Coun. Glenn De Baeremaeker. “Livestock and chickens and goats belong in a barnyard, not somebody’s backyard.

“I think certainly for the chickens … they attract coyotes, they attract raccoons, they attract foxes. It’s just not what we want in other people’s backyards.”

Several municipalities in Ontario, including Kingston, Brampton, Niagara Falls and Caledon, allow residents to keep chickens in backyard coops.


Related stories:

Toronto considers lifting ban on backyard chickens

Video: Backyard chickens pilot project ruffles feathers


Correction: A previous version of the story said Ward 22 instead of Ward 32.

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