The chickens & bees in your back yard

The city of Cleveland's  City Planning Commission is considering livestock ordinance to allow the keeping of/ tending chickens, goats, bees and livestock within the city proper.

Chickens are banned in Toronto because they are considered farm animals. Violators face a $240 fine. Of course many lots would not be suitable for this type of effort in Toronto, but many would. It would require well managed inspections by the city, and excellent behavior towards the neighbors concerns from those keeping the animals.

credit: Gabe Currie

The so-called "chickens and bees" ordinance would update existing zoning to allow up to six chickens (or ducks) on the typical residential lot, provided they're located in a backyard and housed in predator-proof coops that are no closer than 10 feet

"In researching how other cities handle livestock, I found the more densely populated the city, the less restrictive they are toward chickens," Klein says, citing New York and Chicago's policy that chickens can be raised as 'pets' as long as they're only providing eggs (not for slaughter). "Creating a law that's restrictive when many (Clevelanders) are keeping chickens as pets will be a hardship, hard to enforce, and it won't make our food system more secure. If chickens are innocuous, why not make it easier for Cleveland residents?"

draft of Cleveland's livestock ordinance farm_animals_bees10-31 [link opens in new window]

from Marc Lefkowitz  submission at GreenCityBlueLake blog

The Toronto Star had a well researched article in May of this year. {link - opens in new window}

Also here is a link to the Toronto chickens site, just about everything you need to know about the issue in Toronto. {link - opens in new window}