By Rebecca Hoffer, Opinions Contributor
Why did the chicken cross the road? The old adage may soon become relevant for city dwellers as citizens rally in support and in protest of a land use bylaw amendment that would allow for people to keep laying hens within the Halifax peninsula.
In early 2008, Louise Hanavan was ordered to relocate the three laying hens she was raising for eggs in the backyard of her west-end Halifax home. Two years later, the debate continues with what may be called a constitutional chicken-coop-d’état as supporters push for policy reform.
On Feb. 10, 2010, the city organized a public information meeting at Halifax Hall, where the public was invited to share their opinions on the issue.
Many Halifax Regional Municipality residents voiced their support for urban egg-riculture. They want the right to raise and produce their own food, the pleasure of fresh eggs and other benefits from urban gardening.
Chickens can be fed scraps reducing municipal waste, and their manure can be used in composting and to create fertile topsoil, reducing both food and fertilizer miles. Chickens are also known to eat fire ants, providing a chemical-free solution to another pest plaguing the gardens of Halifax.
As other supporters prefaced their comments by explaining that they themselves did not plan on raising chickens, the hens took on political and ecological roles, representing food security, food sovereignty, the move towards more sustainable lifestyles, and the importance of reconnecting with what we eat and how it is produced.
While the majority of those present were in favour of the by-law amendment, not everyone wanted to take a stroll down avian avenue. Several dissenters considered it an unnecessary amendment: if you want local eggs you can buy them at the Farmer’s Market without turning the city into a farmyard. Others found that it created needless controversy and potential harm.
The dominant concern among chicken naysayers was that the feed would attract rats. Several of Hanavan’s neighbours reported a marked increase in these rodents that they attribute to her hens, and argue that with urban chickens come urban rats. Another concern was that chicken coops would be unsightly, and that they might open the barn doors to demands for goats, horses and pigs. However, the proposed by-law amendment applies exclusively to laying hens.
In response, chicken defendants argued that simple precautionary regulations that keep bird feed in sealed containers and hanging chicken feeders could be enforced. Rodents are a reality in the city, with old infrastructure, mismanagement of garbage and food, and even traditional bird feeders nourishing their populations. But as the real roots of rogue rodents remain lawful, the potential relationship between chicken feed and pests does not justify such a poultry prohibition.
With urban chickens, they argued, does not come rats, but rather a community for education, networking, and shared knowledge, that Halifax’s already vibrant community would embrace.
Regulations would govern the number of hens permitted, a minimum distance from neighbours, and would prohibit roosters to prevent noise complaints. A minimum lot size might also be enforced, though some worry that this would prevent lower income families from accessing this alternative food source.
On a practical level, the by-law amendment is fairly harmless. I doubt that there will be a rapid influx of chickens into the city, as most people would rather not deal with building a coop or feeding the birds daily.
With proper precautions for those who do – sealed containers and hanging feeders – rats would not be a major concern. Likewise, on their own, a few hens will not fundamentally challenge our reliance on grocery stores, the industrial-food system, or the profound disconnect between producers and consumers.
Rather, it represents an important ideological shift, and it is from here that the controversy arises. It represents change, and a breaking of traditional distinctions and categories – between farm and city, pet and livestock, producer and consumer. It gives us seemingly contradictory terms such as “urban farms”, and now, “urban chickens”.
So maybe the old adage was right all along in asking: Why did the chicken cross the road? Maybe it was on its way to the city. Or maybe, like us, it was trying to get somewhere new. It wanted change.
HRM Planning Services is continuing to accept community feedback. To voice your opinion, email Mackenzie Stonehocker at stonehm@halifax.ca.
Rebecca Hoffer is a member of Campus Action on Food and the Grainery Food Co-op. She is a third-year biology and anthropology student at Dalhousie.
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