Clarington denies (again) request to allow backyard chickens

Backyard chickens will not be able to roost in non-agricultural areas of Clarington after the request to allow as many as four hens on urban properties was denied at committee.

The issue makes a semi-regular appearance on the council floor in Clarington, with denial usually happening because of the dangers of unclean chicken coops and the potential spread of avian flu.

An Oshawa dog died from the disease last year after chewing on a dead goose that had been infected – the first such case in Canada.

The first request to allow chickens on lands not zoned agricultural happened in 2010 and the council of the day said no, citing concerns about predation, the spread of disease, what would happen to the chickens after they no longer lay eggs, the smell, nuisance to neighbours and the size of the lots.

The issue was back in 2018 and was once again denied.

In 2020, with an active ‘Clucks for Clarington’ campaign spreading the word, council agreed to “explore opportunities” to build food security by allowing backyard chickens and sent the matter back to staff.

The permit was ultimately denied.

This year backyard hens came up again, this time at Monday’s General Government Committee, with Clarington staff advising council to deny the application to change the Exotic Pet Bylaw due to the “significant risks” associated with the highly pathogenic Avian Influenza, “as well as insufficient resources to appropriately regulate chickens in a residential backyard setting.”

A motion from Councillor Corinna Trail to approve the bylaw changes was defeated.

Oshawa resident Martin Field sent correspondence to committee outlining his reasons why Clarington should say no to backyard chickens, highlighted by the risk of the spread of contagious diseases.

“Even if novice keepers are required to take some form of compulsory course in the responsible keeping of chickens, this does not mean that they will follow the guidelines and consequently, the ever-present risk of zoonotic contagious disease poses a real and critical risk to public health.”

It is legal to keep chickens in your backyard if you reside in rural parts of Burlington, as well as Niagara Falls and Guelph (maximum of ten hens, no roosters), as well as Kitchener and Waterloo (four hen maximum) and Brampton (two hens), along with a few other communities.

Toronto had a program permitting backyard chickens in specific pilot areas but ended the program last year.