Toronto is too chicken for chickens

Chickens in a Toronto coop...look at all that room they have.
I didn't even get that much backyard space when I was a kid.

Maybe it's because I lived on/visited a working farm as a child, maybe it's because I love eggs, maybe it's that I think having sustainable animals in your backyard giving you instant access to local food is a good thing; no matter what it is - I want chickens.

I read something in the paper a year or two ago about a couple that keeps a chicken coop in their backyard in their Toronto home - they knew they were operating it in direct breach of a city bylaw, but just didn't care. The bylaw itself doesn't name chickens specifically, but most birds in their class, including ducks and geese. Ever since, I found it intriguing, and already have the plans for my future coop drawn up in my head. 

Apparently you can't have chickens...but you have have
bees....that's right....those little bastards that sting (and kill)
some people.

It's a little ridiculous that they're not giving city-dwellers the chance to create a sustainable food source, and even more ridiculous that they're using the living conditions of the animals as a main source of their reasoning. How about cracking down on the living conditions at the chicken farmers across the province? I guarantee you, that any chicken I keep will get 1000 times the care that one of those gets. 

When I was young, and we had to 'put down' a chicken that was sick, or "past it's prime", there'd be no sadness - just a garbage bag, a swift twist and a phrase I'll never forget - "Go see Jesus" (I'm not even religious). Now - if I had a chicken these days (a hen at that) - she'd get a funeral, and an egg-shaped coffin (kind of a death reflecting birth kind of thing). 

So...help me...spread the word about chickens....there's at least a dozen eggs in it for you. Check out Toronto Chickens - a group of people dedicated to overturning the bylaw. (They've been unsuccessful thusfar)

TO bylaw officers are too busy to deal with your nasty neighbour, rowdy bar, garbage dumper, because they're going after the dreaded hens!
— signe langford (@sigster64) February 2, 2012