Urban Chickens

[MacBerry]

How is that at all relevant to whether people should be allowed to do so? That is the question - whether this should be something prohibited by by-law, or not.

People engage in all kinds of arguably "unproductive" activities - fixing up old cars, canning jams, growing vegetables. Sure, you can make claims that economically those things don't make sense. But it does not matter whether they make sense to an economist, it matters whether they make sense to the people doing them - and those people take into account things other than money.

Oh, and our endless suburban expanses are hardly so dense as to make the concept of backyard chickens ridiculous.

This.  All this.  +1

The fundamental question, of course, is whether residential zoning should permit agricultural activity.  And if it should, what kind of limits should there be?

All home offices now banned!  Commercial in a Residential zone!
No more homework!  Institutional in a residential zone!

absurd?  yes, but so is claiming 4 hens is an agricultural activity.  not more than gardening

 4 hens maybe no problem 

400 hens in 100 properties ... hmmm ... you get the growth potential

All the back to nature idealism ignores at least one urban thing that comes with many chicken coops that if not looked after daily create other problems (I don't have a number of how many are needed but just like the nearest restaurant back lot  ... they attract mice but mostly rats). Lock the chickens up at night and nothing happens to the chickens but the rats have lots to eat from the ground foods not eaten. Don't lock the doors and the rats have fresh eggs. Anyone who lived or worked on a farm knows they are always around just not seen. Rats attract foxes/coyotes and the neighbours complain and so the cycle begins