MARATHON — During their recent regular council meeting, council approved a pilot project that will allow residents to keep chickens in their backyard.
Marathon corporate services manager Andrea Gauthier said 541 residents responded to a survey the Town had issued in February, with 53 per cent of respondents saying they would like to keep chickens in their backyard.
The most common reason why resident residents wanted backyard chickens was for educational purposes and fresh eggs. The most common concern from residents was odour, safety, and noise.
Residents also suggested that if backyard chickens were allowed they recommend that residents be responsible for the cleanliness of the coop, limit the number of chickens residents are allowed to have, have no roaster allowed, and specifications of coop size.
Gauthier told council that staff consulted with the Thunder Bay District Health Unit to address some of the health hazards of keeping farm animals in residential areas.
The health unit offed some key points for council to consider including “illnesses and outbreaks caused by infectious agents such as salmonella and campylobacter can be transmitted to humans through interaction with infected birds,” Gauthier said.
Residents will also need to take appropriate steps to ensure the risk of avian influenza and rodent infestations are avoided.
“Owners can reduce the risk of illness and other hazards through a variety of infection and prevention control and biosecurity measures,” said Gauthier.
The health unit recommended council provide information about the health and bio-security risks associated with raising chickens.
In addition, the health unit suggested council set standard guidelines for the care of backyard chickens including allowing by-law enforcement to investigate the operations of backyard chickens and the allowance to revoke permissions to of raising chickens if residents fail to comply with municipal health and safety.
The consensus from council is that are in favour of allowing residential areas to have backyard chickens, however, each of them expressed the same concerns over the risk of infectious diseases impacting the health of their constituents.
Moving forward, the pilot program will include several provisions to ensure residents are complying with the cleanliness of the coop and education on how to raise healthy chickens.
Although council is interested in a community-wide pilot project for backyard chickens, a by-law amendment must be presented to council first with a set of rules and regulations for residents to abide by.
Current discussions of rules and regulations for having backyard chickens include a fee of $100, licensing, the size of the resident’s yard, and inspections of the coop before chickens can be claimed. Residents will be allowed to have up to four chickens. They will not be allowed to have a rooster.
Staff will present a new by-law to council at a later date.
