Auto Body Shop Running Afowl of Windsor's Bylaws

If you live in Windsor, you've probably seen or heard about the chickens at the Formula 1 auto body shop.  And today, we learned that they have run "afowl" of the law.  The chickens will have to go.

I've known about those chickens for a long time, but since they live on a big property, I assumed it was zoned agricultural.

The bylaw states quite clearly that the restrictions against chickens don't apply to:

(5) any person who keeps animals in an agricultural area.

The owner says he's going to look into his legal options.  My advice would be to check his zoning.  The land used to be designated farm land, so it won't be difficult to determine its current status and then his legal options will be quite clear.

Read the story here:

http://blogs.windsorstar.com/2013/05/13/urban-chickens/

The Vancouver Experience

Windsor and Essex councillors and other people who are afraid of chickens taking over the city streets might be interested in learning what happened in Vancouver since backyard poultry were legalized there in 2010.

At the time, I remember reading about controversial plans to build a $20,000 shelter to house stray birds.

Luckily for the taxpayers, the shelter was never built.  Turns out, it was a good thing too, because it hasn't been needed.  Only 2 birds ended up needing rehousing.  They were taken in by a local farm family who, just like us at our collective, were more than happy to take on a layer they didn't have to pay for.  Ten bucks saved is always a good thing, no?

Only about 100 Vancouver households ended up applying for chicken permits, and the number of complaints has been around 20 a year.

I suppose some might think it isn't worth changing the bylaw for 100 households, though I see it differently.   Even in Windsor, a much smaller city, there is good reason to believe there are many more than 100 households who believe everyone should be allowed to own chickens if they wish. No doubt the number of households who actually do it is much smaller, but the same probably holds true for the number of households with more than 2 dogs, now that the bylaw has been altered to allow 3.

I'd like to know more about those 20 complaints a year.  What was the rate before 2010, and how many of the complaints related to the 100 households with chicken permits?  Who knows, perhaps all of the complaints related to birds living on properties without permits, in which case they would have proved that residents had nothing at all to fear from people who simply wanted a legal coop and up to 4 hens in their backyards.

The details in the story are a little sketchy, but you can read it in the Vancouver Courier.

If you want to know more about the rules in Vancouver, you can read all about them on the city's website.

Are Collectives the way to go?

We believe every resident should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to own backyard hens, in exactly the same way Windsorites are entitled to decide for themselves whether to take on a dog (or three), a cat (or four), or even up to 80 pigeons.

However, we are also pragmatic.  It takes time to change bylaws.  While we are confident we will one day see hens return to Windsor, it won't happen overnight.  Did you know that 2012 was the year of the cooperative?  When we started our "clucktive" in 2011, we were ahead of the curve!

For some people, it might be a good option to join a cooperative that raises hens to produce free range eggs.  It has certain advantages:

• It's an excellent place to start if you're not sure to what extent you want to commit yourself
• It's a good place to learn the basics, especially if there are other members with more experience
• Maybe you live in an apartment, or your property is otherwise unsuitable for a backyard coop
• It can be more cost effective, because of the economies of operating on a larger scale
• Sharing the responsibility of owning hens means you have more flexibility, for example, it can be easier to get away on weekends and vacations if there is someone else to cover coop duties during that time
• The sense of community you can get from knowing other like-minded families is phenomenal.

As with all good things, there are also a couple of potential disadvantages:

• A collaborative coop is likely to be larger than a backyard one, and will likely have more hens.  You may discover it's is not quite as idyllic as you imagined.
• When it's your turn, you will likely have more work to do on your day.  There will be more poop to clean out, and more feed and water to supply.  This might prove challenging for people with disabilities
• Organizing a collaborative involves an element of trust.  You would have to trust that each member does their share of the work, and you have to trust the person assigned to control the finances
• You have to be prepared to make group decisions, and this could result in some members having to go along with opinions that they don't fully agree with.  For example, the group has to decide what kind of feed to purchase, and what to do if hens become sick.
• Your cooperative might not be as close to your house as you would like it to be.  If it is in a remote area, you might have to consider security arrangements that wouldn't be an issue in your backyard.

For a city like Windsor, where urban chickens are not currently allowed, we think urban hen collaboratives would be a great first step.  Cooperatives of all kinds are a growing trend at the moment.   It's a model that works for some people, and it would be a good way for Windsor to take some first steps towards joining the growing urban ag movement that is sweeping through North America.

Chicken Collective on CBC

The CBC has picked up the story of urban chickens in the Windsor area today, and it is interesting to see how it has been framed.



They looked at it from a food security point of view, which is less sensational than what we saw two years ago.  Times have changed.   Many more people have started to think more seriously about where their food comes from.  Seeing frequent food recalls and contamination scares made many people want more insight into what goes on behind farm doors.  And since those doors are firmly locked from the public's eye, there are ever more people who want to take control over their food supply themselves.

Rather than eschewing eggs completely, many of us want to eat only free range eggs:  for their nutritional superiority, as well as the fact that free range hens get to live like nature intended them to.

When you buy eggs in the grocery store, the best you can hope for are eggs from free run chickens.

No eggs sold in our local grocery stores come from hens that go outside or that scratch in the ground.

It is most likely that all of them have been debeaked.

The CBC story picked up the fact that if you don't have a car, you cannot get eggs from free range chickens.  This means that low income people have a more limited range of choices when it comes to ethical eating.

While our goal is still to overturn the bylaw that prohibits the raising of poultry in the city, our experience with the collective has shown us that this is another effective way of keeping free range chickens.  There are advantages and disadvantages to both, which we will discuss in the next post.

In the meanwhile, if you didn't see the story earlier today, you can read it on the CBC website here.

The video clip is at the 6.40 min mark on the March 22 News at Six:

Please Voice Your Opinion! Vote Today!

Hey Friends! 

#UrbanHens back in the news! 

They love our CLUCK-tive!

Please vote on #CBCWINDSOR poll to allow 

an Inner City CLUCKTIVE!

http://www.cbc.ca/windsor/