Dear Ottawa City Hall:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
We, residents of Ottawa, would like you to change the City by-law to allow residents to keep a limited number of hens (no roosters) in their backyards within City limits. Keeping hens would enable residents to provide a nutritious, delicious, safe, and environmentally friendly eggs for their families, while at the same time teaching our children where food comes from, and what it is worth.
Dr. David Waltner-Toews, veterinarian, epidemiologist, and professor at the University of Guelph, has written that he knows of “no evidence linking human illness with keeping small urban flocks.” Further, he believes that “if we do not make room for these urban entrepreneurs, we risk losing a set of very important food-rearing skills that will enable us to better navigate the economic, climatic and environmental instability our society will face in the coming decades.”
Backyard hens have always been allowed in many major US cities, including New York. Canadian cities such as Vancouver are now catching up. Please let us, the residents of Ottawa, join millions of other city dwellers in North America who are allowed to provide eggs for our families by keeping a few hens in the backyard.
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
September 26, 2012
February 21, 2012
I spent the morning reading through the stories you shared about why you want to raise your own hens and it reminded me exactly why I started this. City Hall remains quiet but your enthusiasm is proof that this policy is outdated and ready for change.
Reached 100 supporters
March 14, 2010
March 11, 2010
My kids have been checking the tally all morning because they dream of the day their own hens can roam our yard. We are nearing a hundred signatures and that milestone will show the council that Ottawa families are ready for this change.
29 Comments
Chickens are not hard to care for. So rewarding to see a new fresh egg almost every day. So rewarding. Teaches kids to care for animals and an understanding of where our food comes from.
Carleton Place and Gatineau both allow chickens. There is no reason for Ottawa not to.
With COVID-19 and business shutdowns, Ottawans are concerned more than ever about getting food on the table. Lets provide food support to the people of Ottawa!
Pet hens are the absolute best! They eat kitchen scraps, bugs and grubs, provide delicious eggs, are quiet, easy to raise, are trainable..This is an outdated by-law that really needs to change.
As a resident of Ottawa I support this proposed change as a progressive, ecologically friendly step for the city
I believe these animals cause no damage to the community and therefore should not be prohibited. In Quebec they are allowed and everything is going well. As long as the amount of chickens is regulated it shouldn't be a problem.
My kids would like to collect a few eggs from a couple of chickens.
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Dear Ottawa City Hall:<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
We, residents of Ottawa, would like you to change the City by-law to allow residents to keep a limited number of hens (no roosters) in their backyards within City limits. Keeping hens would enable residents to provide a nutritious, delicious, safe, and environmentally friendly eggs for their families, while at the same time teaching our children where food comes from, and what it is worth.
Dr. David Waltner-Toews, veterinarian, epidemiologist, and professor at the University of Guelph, has written that he knows of “no evidence linking human illness with keeping small urban flocks.” Further, he believes that “if we do not make room for these urban entrepreneurs, we risk losing a set of very important food-rearing skills that will enable us to better navigate the economic, climatic and environmental instability our society will face in the coming decades.”
Backyard hens have always been allowed in many major US cities, including New York. Canadian cities such as Vancouver are now catching up. Please let us, the residents of Ottawa, join millions of other city dwellers in North America who are allowed to provide eggs for our families by keeping a few hens in the backyard.
Updates
Reached 1,000 supporters
September 26, 2012
February 21, 2012
I spent the morning reading through the stories you shared about why you want to raise your own hens and it reminded me exactly why I started this. City Hall remains quiet but your enthusiasm is proof that this policy is outdated and ready for change.
Reached 100 supporters
March 14, 2010
March 11, 2010
My kids have been checking the tally all morning because they dream of the day their own hens can roam our yard. We are nearing a hundred signatures and that milestone will show the council that Ottawa families are ready for this change.
29 Comments
I am experienced with raising chickens. I believe it is completely manageable with in city limits. A flock cap would be perfectly acceptable and as well as a management plan. There is no more risk with chickens then cats or dogs. How many cats roam and get hit on the road? How many complaints are heard about dogs barking? Chicken owners must understand their birds would need to be contained and that they are not summer time pets. Other then that YES lets allow chickens.
Chickens are not hard to care for. So rewarding to see a new fresh egg almost every day. So rewarding. Teaches kids to care for animals and an understanding of where our food comes from.
Carleton Place and Gatineau both allow chickens. There is no reason for Ottawa not to.
With COVID-19 and business shutdowns, Ottawans are concerned more than ever about getting food on the table. Lets provide food support to the people of Ottawa!
Pet hens are the absolute best! They eat kitchen scraps, bugs and grubs, provide delicious eggs, are quiet, easy to raise, are trainable..This is an outdated by-law that really needs to change.
As a resident of Ottawa I support this proposed change as a progressive, ecologically friendly step for the city
I believe these animals cause no damage to the community and therefore should not be prohibited. In Quebec they are allowed and everything is going well. As long as the amount of chickens is regulated it shouldn't be a problem.
My kids would like to collect a few eggs from a couple of chickens.
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I am experienced with raising chickens. I believe it is completely manageable with in city limits. A flock cap would be perfectly acceptable and as well as a management plan. There is no more risk with chickens then cats or dogs. How many cats roam and get hit on the road? How many complaints are heard about dogs barking? Chicken owners must understand their birds would need to be contained and that they are not summer time pets. Other then that YES lets allow chickens.