I came across this article in my morning newspaper. The reason I think it's a silly law is because, if you live in this city, you can own 60 pigeons but are not allowed per the bylaw to own one chicken.
http://www.windsorstar.com/technology/CLUCK+wants+bring+barnyard+Windsor/3679878/story.htmlLUCK wants to bring a bit of the barnyard to Windsor By Craig Pearson, The Windsor Star October 15, 2010
Sarah Kacso holds one of her chickens at her home on Hall Ave in Windsor, ON. Despite a bylaw against such activity Kasco continues to keep the chickens which regularly provide eggs for her.
Photograph by: Dan Janisse, The Windsor StarIt’s time to let chickens roost in Windsor, say supporters of the homegrown egg movement.
A group of concerned chicken supporters, who belong to a fun-sounding but serious group called CLUCK (Canadian Liberated Urban Chicken Klub), consider banning chickens for the birds. They will meet with the Windsor licence commission Tuesday morning. The chicken club is continuing a two-year battle to convince the city to allow residents to raise a small number of hens for eggs.
Roosters, however, crow all day and don’t make for great neighbours.
“The end goal is to make it legal to have a few chickens in Windsor,” said Steve Green, who raises chickens, and says CLUCK counts almost 170 local members. “Currently, you can have 80 pigeons but you can’t have one chicken.”
Green, a case worker at St. Leonard’s House, believes people should have more connection to their food supply.
“I would like to see us have a little more control over our own food basket,” Green said. “My main reason is to create more food security.”
Though store-bought eggs have been recalled occasionally over the years, Green said backyard eggs often prove more organic and clean. And he said they’re cheap, so even low-income families can secure a lot of high-protein eggs relatively inexpensively.
Chickens live between five and 10 years. Hens typically lay one egg a day for about six years.
Sarah Kacso, who raises urban chickens and recently helped
start a local website called Rosecityfarms.com — aimed at educating Windsorites about raising urban chickens — figures it will cost her about $30 a year in feed for three birds. That would buy 180 eggs at the store, though her chickens will produce 800 to 900 eggs in one year.
“They’ll keep for five or six months without any change in taste or texture,” Kacso said. “And they taste much better than store-bought. You can tell when you crack it. Instead of being yellow, they’re a vibrant orange. When you hardboil them, they don’t get chalky. They stay creamy in the middle.”
In the pecking order of common birds, chickens rule the roost. With more than 24 billion worldwide, according to the Firefly Encyclopedia of Birds, chickens are more common than any other species of bird.
Like Green, Kacso doesn’t advocate raising city chickens for meat, since most people do not know how to properly butcher a bird. She wants them raised strictly for eggs — or as pets.
She and her fiance Colin McMahon own three chickens — two Italian white leghorns, aloof but great layers, and one bearded buff laced Polish variety, a breed known for its docile temperament.
They flit about very free-range in the couple’s backyard, which does not have a fence, and always return to their sawdust beds at night. Chickens rarely stray far from their coop.
Kacso said she told neighbours about the mini-farm, and has never heard a complaint about her feathered friends, since they are are quiet and odour-free. In fact, she said neighbourhood kids routinely come over to watch or feed the chickens — which are omnivores, and peck on everything from seed and weeds to fruit and table scraps.
Chickens must be fed once a day, and their coop cleaned out, but they require less attention than either cats or dogs.
Mike Chantler, deputy licence commissioner, said the city must consider a number of issues, including possible licence fees, rules of ownership, health effects, how to enforce bylaws, what to do about bad owners, and what to do with abandoned chickens.
He noted that while a number of municipalities have allowed the raising of backyard chickens, London councillors recently voted against it.
After Tuesday’s licence commission meeting on the topic, he said, his office may form a committee to take an in-depth look at the issue. The committee would then provide council with a report and recommendation on the issue. He said that process could take between three and 12 months.
Coun. Ron Jones, who chairs the licence committee, said he’s not yet sure how he will vote when chickens eventually come before council, but at first glance he appears amenable to the clucky critters.
“Personally, I have no objections to it,” said Jones, who nevertheless wants to learn more about urban chickens before deciding. “It is something that is common in other countries and other municipalities. The documents I have read indicate they are clean and that there’s no smell. So I am open to the debate.”
Kacso, meanwhile, feels there’s no need to be chicken. Her tame cluckers are named Karma, Dolce and Buttercup, whose head seems like one golden ball of feathers. Buttercup loves being petted, and even won Cutest Pet at the downtown farmers’ market.
“If you keep her in the sun and pet her, she just falls asleep,” said Kacso, a recent political science graduate of the University of Windsor. “Her little head just goes slack.
“She’s awesome. We love her.”
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