Bylaws Affecting the Keeping of Chickens in Urban Environments
I just heard about the great news that some new by-laws in 100 North American cities permit the keeping of Chickens in urban areas.
I think this is great news.
However, animal control officers in Victoria think this is bad news because many of their call outs concern chickens that have escaped and trespass on other people's land.
The problem is that there are no restrictions about how many chickens people can keep or in what conditions they are to be kept in.
So many chickens escape because their chicken coops are not adequate to contain them.
For several years I kept chickens in an urban environment with very close neighbors and had no problems.
In fact my neighbors loved the idea and praised us for it.
It was a great experience to see them grow to the point where they were then able to provide us with eggs that were some of the best I ever tasted.
They also kept our small yard clear of other pests like slugs and snails as well as eating weeds.
Why would there be a problem? Well you could argue that they make a lot of noise, but a chicken's cluck is quieter than a dog's bark so let's ban dogs too.
Of course if you had a cockerel they would make a lot of noise and i would agree that these should be kept in the countryside and in the new by laws they remain banned from urban areas so there are no problems for noise.
I think the animal control officers in Victoria are just horrified that they might have a little more of what they are paid for and are lashing out by saying it is wrong.
Instead if they were truly interested in the welfare of the animals or the people that they serve they could have attempted to make some constructive criticisms.
Like suggesting some rules about the number of chickens kept in a certain amount of space and that there be some guidelines on how to build a chicken coop that won't let the chickens break out of or predators break into.
I am sure for every one irresponsible chicken keeper whose chickens escape causing problems there are hundred of other who keep their chickens happy safe.
It is a shame that all chicken keepers are tarred with the same brush.
I think this is great news.
However, animal control officers in Victoria think this is bad news because many of their call outs concern chickens that have escaped and trespass on other people's land.
The problem is that there are no restrictions about how many chickens people can keep or in what conditions they are to be kept in.
So many chickens escape because their chicken coops are not adequate to contain them.
For several years I kept chickens in an urban environment with very close neighbors and had no problems.
In fact my neighbors loved the idea and praised us for it.
It was a great experience to see them grow to the point where they were then able to provide us with eggs that were some of the best I ever tasted.
They also kept our small yard clear of other pests like slugs and snails as well as eating weeds.
Why would there be a problem? Well you could argue that they make a lot of noise, but a chicken's cluck is quieter than a dog's bark so let's ban dogs too.
Of course if you had a cockerel they would make a lot of noise and i would agree that these should be kept in the countryside and in the new by laws they remain banned from urban areas so there are no problems for noise.
I think the animal control officers in Victoria are just horrified that they might have a little more of what they are paid for and are lashing out by saying it is wrong.
Instead if they were truly interested in the welfare of the animals or the people that they serve they could have attempted to make some constructive criticisms.
Like suggesting some rules about the number of chickens kept in a certain amount of space and that there be some guidelines on how to build a chicken coop that won't let the chickens break out of or predators break into.
I am sure for every one irresponsible chicken keeper whose chickens escape causing problems there are hundred of other who keep their chickens happy safe.
It is a shame that all chicken keepers are tarred with the same brush.
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