Study into allowing backyard hens gets put on back burner

TORONTO – Toronto’s city councillors appeared to have chickened out on a proposal to allow backyard hens.

The city’s licensing and standards committee was to consider if residents should be allowed to keep a limited number of hens in their backyards.

But a motion to get a study going on the issue has been deferred indefinitely.

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The study would have looked into the sale of eggs, noise, odour and separation distance.

Existing bylaws prohibit the keeping of chickens in Toronto and more than a dozen backyard coops were reported to bylaw officers last year.

Coun. Joe Mihevc, who raised the motion, says there are a number of residents who wish to keep hens in their backyards to produce eggs for personal use.

He said many cities including Vancouver, New York and Los Angeles have modified their regulations to include backyard hens. (AM640, The Canadian Press)