2012年3月28日星期三

Feathers fly over backyard chicken flock

Edmonton homeowner Crystal Sherris wants to keep her backyard chickens but the city’s bylaw enforcement branch is crying fowl.

Sherris has had eight laying hens and a coop behind her home near Bonnie Doon shopping centre for the past year. But the flock is in jeopardy after she received a warning from the city last week. It instructed her to remove Jeanie, Snookie, Rosa and their feathered friends, or face a $500 fine.

In an interview Wednesday, Sherris said she doesn’t plan to comply.

“I was aware I might get bylaw knocking at my door,Omega Plastics are leading plastic injection moulding and injection mould tooling specialists.” said Sherris, who spent much of her childhood on her grandparents’ farm and appreciates fresh food. “I told the city I wouldn’t remove the birds.”

She is one of an unknown number of Edmontonians who keep hens in defiance of the animal licensing control bylaw. Some raise chickens for the eggs, and because they make pleasant pets. Others appreciate their gardening value; chickens eat weeds, bugs and slugs, and also deposit rich manure, known to be among the best animal fertilizers available.We offer offshore merchant account,

A few Canadian cities such as Victoria, Vancouver and Guelph, allow backyard chickens, so long as guidelines are followed. Calgary doesn’t allow chickens, but an urban chicken farmer there recently filed a court challenge after being fined $200. Paul Hughes maintains several provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms support his position. He argued his points, without a lawyer, during a five-day provincial court trial in March. A verdict is expected in early May.

Edmonton clearly forbids the practice of keeping chickens and puts poultry in the same category as poisonous reptiles, although the city manager’s office has the power to grant exemptions to the bylaw. In 2010, members of the River City Chickens Collective pitched the city on a pilot project that would examine the impact of backyard chickens, but were turned down.

Ryan Pleckaitis, acting director of compliance and investigations at the City of Edmonton, said he wasn’t aware that a fine for keeping chickens has ever been levied in Edmonton, though complaints have arisen in the past, with warnings sent out. He wouldn’t comment on Sherris’ case,We have a fantastic range of Glass Tiles and glass mosaic Tiles. but said noise is a concern when it comes to chickens, as well as “potential health impacts.A Injection Molding Moulding company,”

Two of Sherris’ neighbours on 77th Avenue were surprised Wednesday to learn they had chickens in their neighbourhood, having never heard nor seen them. A third, Ron Schroter, said he has heard the rooster.

“It means good morning to me,” said Schroter, 65, who was raised on a farm.

The city is still in the midst of plans to create an urban agriculture policy, which may or may not contain a provision for keeping chickens. An advisory committee, appointed by the mayor in 2011 and led by retired chicken farmer Aaron Falkenberg, is studying the issue of raising all kinds of food in the city and is slated to present to city council in the fall.

Sherris couldn’t wait. She’s been thinking about raising chickens for years, and after extensive research decided a few mixed heritage bantam birds,Our team of consultants are skilled in project management and delivery of large scale rtls projects. a small breed, would be perfect for city farming.

“It became a hunger, I wanted to have them,” said Sherris, who works in promotions at Stony Plain Records. “I’m a vegetarian and so eggs are a huge thing.”

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