Sadly for us Heather has moved back to Portland, her enthusiasm along with her. Most of the resources on this site are taken from her personal experience. But now, it is time to start building our own local knowledge on keeping urban hens in Vancouver.

That is, if the community feels that this resource is worthwhile. At the moment I’m keeping the blog barely alive off of the side of my desk. I can envision a much expanded site with resources and information updated regularly, and maybe forums so that community members can discuss the ins and outs of raising healthy chickens.

So, what do you say Vancouver, should we keep at it? If so, what would you like to see on the site?

Let us know and we’ll do our best to keep the site alive.

Note: Comments are moderated so please have patience once you respond. We will moderate as quickly as possible.

Best wishes,
Jeff
Site Admin

Another Backyard Chicken - photo by Jenn Pentland

We’re getting close folks! The City of Vancouver has just released the draft guidelines for keeping backyard chickens. Now they are looking for your input.

Here’s what the city has to say:

Following the Council motion in the Spring of 2009, City staff have been working to develop a set of draft guidelines that would cover the keeping of backyard hens in Vancouver.

A discussion draft of these guidelines has now been produced and was provided to the Vancouver Food Policy Council for their review in September.  You can download a copy of this document at www.vancouver.ca/chickens.

Should you wish to provide feedback or commentary around these guidelines, please feel free to email us at foodpolicy@vancouver.ca. We welcome your input into this process.

We plan to take a revised version of the draft to City Council in October of this year, and would appreciate any commentary you might have by Wednesday, October 21, 2009.”

Heather Havens has summarized some important points to consider about the bylaw.

What I’d like to see fixed:
- 10 ft from neighbor’s dwellings might be reasonable, but 10 ft fromcone’s own dwelling will definitely be prohibitive (and won’t be followed).
- “No side or front yards” will prohibit corner lots, and it is rumored that there might be city councilors with corner lots that are thinking about getting chickens.
- 4 sq ft per hen in hen-house (”coop” is used in the draft and is confusing) is excessive, contrary to University and vet recommendations, and will create excessively large, heavy, tall, obtrusive, and expensive hen-houses. 10 sq ft per hen in their run, not including their space in their house, is also excessive and will be prohibitive. 1.5 sq ft per hen inside “hen-house”, and 8 sq ft per hen outside, in their run or coop, is recommended (see attached University of Vermont Extension publication).
- 1 nest per hen is not correct, 1 per 4 – 5 hens is recommended (see University of Vermont Extension publication attached).
- Chicks should be discouraged, but not prohibited.
- People want to, and will, let their hens out in their properly fenced back-yards, while they are there to supervise. It would be nice if all of these people could do this, which they will be doing regardless of the bylaw, without breaking the law.

Photo of Les Booth by Dan Toulgoet in Vancouver Courier

While I haven’t had a chance to check out the size, strength and security of these coops, it’s great to see urban chickens hatching businesses in Vancouver.

From the June 5, 2009 edition of the Vancouver Courier.

Businesses prepare for backyard chicken boom
by Sandra Thomas

Main Street is no longer simply a haven of funky restaurants and showcase for fashion designers. It’s now becoming the go-to neighbourhood for backyard chicken supplies.

Backyard poultry farmers stop on the way home from the office to order a bag of chicken feed from Tisol Pet Supply near Main and West 12th Avenue. And they can also purchase chicken coops at Both Feet on Main Street shoe repair at 4410 Main St.

“This is Vancouver, so they’re really more like chicken condos,” Both Feet owner Les Both told the Courier.

Both placed an example of the made-to-order chicken condos outside his shop last Thursday. He hasn’t sold one, but interest has been overwhelming.

“Everybody’s stopping by to ask about it and everybody’s got an opinion,” said Both. “Some are against it and some are for it. I know some are worried people won’t treat them humanely, but most people already have a dog or a cat and these chickens usually end up as pets so I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

City council voted in March to allow residents to keep backyard chickens. While the motion was approved in principle, chickens won’t be taking up legal residence in the city until after a report is completed in late fall that will introduce guidelines, such as the number of birds allowed, the conditions they’re kept in, sanitation standards and the amount of grass each will need. Roosters or the sale of eggs from backyard chickens will be allowed.

Backyard butchering and carcass disposal also require more study before city staff recommendations are made. The city is looking at neighbouring municipalities that allow backyard chickens, such as Burnaby and Richmond, for guidance.

Both said the coops are made to order from a Bellingham, Washington-based business that employs people with developmental disabilities. The coops are designed to hold two chickens and are light enough to be picked up and moved around a backyard.

They’re made with heavy-duty wire to keep out rats, raccoons and skunks. Prices range between $400 and $560.

Surrey-based backyard chicken expert Heather Havens said she’s delighted another local business is gearing up for the day poultry can be raised in Vancouver.

“I’ve got a list of chicken vets and places to buy chicken feed, but I don’t have a real list on where to buy chicken coops or chicks,” said Havens, an agriculture and animal scientist who works as a consultant for Gaia Green Products, a B.C.-based company specializing in organic fertilizer. “I’d like to start hearing from these places so I can have that information on hand when I teach.”

Havens, a longtime backyard chicken farmer who rasied chickens in Portland, Ore., teaches classes on keeping poultry. She’s tentatively booked to hold two workshops at Langara College June 18 and 22.

Havens agrees with Both that backyard chickens often become pets to their owners, though she describes them as “minor” pets.

“Chickens have humungous personalities,” said Havens. “It’s easy to develop relationships with them.”

Made-to-order chicken coops are also available at Southlands Farm, located at the corner of Blenheim Street and West 52nd Ave.

via Vancouver Courier

Image: Granville Magazine

Chicks in the city, Are backyard chickens sustainable, or just stylish?

A glib headline (and tone at times), but a pretty fair article. The last few paragraphs are perhaps the most poignant, with the final sentence being the kicker.

Whatever the benefits hens provide in terms of providing eggs, shortening the food chain, taking are of kitchen scraps or fertilizing the yard, she admits that they’re a luxury. We have the opportunity to choose whether or not to gather our own eggs or buy them from any one of the several vendors our society affords.

[Heather] Jarvey hints, however, that it might not always be so, and that having a few small-scale producers in the community keeps alive agricultural practices that might one day be important for the survival of neighbourhoods and communities.

“Yes, it is a luxury – right now,” she says. “But I’d rather be doing it while it’s a luxury than try to figure it out when it’s a necessity.”

Read the rest of the article on the Granville Magazine site.

Just shy of 100 people have signed our petition in support of an amended animal control bylaw in the City of Vancouver that would allow residents to keep chickens on residential lots. Keeping spreading the word and here’s some choice comments from some of the signers on why they want to see backyard chickens legalized.

I already try and keep my carbon footprint as small as I can by doing most of my shopping within my neighbourhood and purchasing locally grown food whenever possible.  I have started a garden and I do a lot of preserving.
Keeping chickens will serve a number of purposes in our household.  They will be a good source of protein by providing free run organic eggs for my family, they will provide good manure to fertilise my garden, they will consume table scraps – particularly those that are not compostable (like cooked food and baked goods), and they will help keep my yard and garden weed and pest free.
Properly kept chickens should not smell, or attract vermin.

More Comments after the jump.

Please take a relatively objective stand here, and support chickens in backyards even if you feel you must develop more guidelines and/or permits in order to give an opportunity to run a pilot project at the very least. The folks who are most negatively aspected about urban chickens  are, I believe, people whose native communities (IMO), did not share the healthy approach to raising two or three chickens and caring for them as one would care for any other pet. I agree, that in many communities, the conditions were and are such that few of us would like to invite that experience into our cities. Please give this a chance. Other cities (Please see the latest Sunset Magazine issue) are satisfied and even proud of their backyard chickens – all is not doom and gloom.   It really can work.  Thank you!

I won’t be raising chickens myself, but I would have no issue if my neighbours wanted to. I think it’s a great opportunity to enhance the local food chain. Please vote in favour of this bylaw amendment.

I have urban chickens. They are very easy to care for properly, they are great pets, my neighbors have always loved them, they are clean, quiet, and provide wonderful eggs and compost. They don't attract rodents or predators, and are not a threat for avian flu. Please stand by your decision to allow small backyard flocks of urban hens in Vancouver. Thank you.

This city needs to get real, as far as food production goes. Back yard chickens are such a nautural asset to food production, and some choices for people, that are healthy and empowered. To allow a few citizens to revoke this act would be a huge backward step. Let us be a city that choices food, and choice, and lead by example! The time is now for world change, not 10 years from now, for the sake of the generations that will follow us we have to change! Thank you

The fact that you are getting a vocal reaction is a sign you are on the right track to making some progress in creating a sustainable city.

“All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” Arthur Schopenhauer – German philosopher (1788 – 1860)
Thanks!

vancouver.ca/commsvcs/socialplanning/initiatives/foodpolicy/projects/chickens.htm

As is often the case, it would seem that a small, but loud minority is voicing their opposition while those in favour stay quiet… thus leading the powers that be only hearing the opposition.

If you are in support of urban chickens, please write or call City Hall to voice your support for backyard chickens.

email: mayorandcouncil@vancouver.ca
phone: 604.873.7276

Please write to Burnaby’s Mayor and City Councilors, and ask them to legalize chickens on ALL residential Burnaby lots. Please let these folks know all of the reasons that backyard poultry are a good idea, and please reassure them that our hens can easily be cared for properly, and in a good-neighborly fashion. Please support us at the meeting, too, if you can.

Thank you for your support!

mayor.corrigan@burnaby.ca
pietro.calendino@burnaby.ca
Richard.chang@burnaby.ca
sav.dhaliwal@burnaby.ca
dan.johnston@burnaby.ca
cjordan@comsavings.com
anne.kang@burnaby.ca
paul.mcdonell@burnaby.ca
postmaster@burnaby.ca

Feel free to attend council meeting if you would like. If you would like to appear before council yourself please email Blanka.Zeinabova@burnaby.ca

If you have any press connections who you think would like to cover the story, I would be happy to speak with them but simply don’t have much time to pursue them myself. -Gordon World

Thank you Everyone!

Gordon World
Heather Havens