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Allow Backyard Hens

Let's make Barrie a sustainable city by allowing backyard hens for the purpose of household egg consumption.
Many major North American cities, including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, New York, Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles, together with Ontario communities such as Niagara Falls, Brampton, Newmarket,
and Guelph, allow the small-scale raising of hens. Now it's Barrie's turn to join this positive and growing trend.
Hens have existed in cities since the dawn of time an
d continue to thrive in communities around the world to this day. The benefits of raising them include:

  • Fresh, healthy and delicious home-grown eggs, free of pesticides and antibiotics;

  • Reduced municipal solid waste as hens consume table scraps and other organic waste;

  • Reduced backyard pest populations as hens consume weeds and bugs;

  • Opportunities to teach children about food sources and responsible animal care; and

  • The addition of great "poultry pets" to families -- hens are people-friendly, nonaggressive and always entertaining to watch.

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Sharon shared this idea  ·   ·  Report…  ·  Admin →
under review  ·  AdminCity of Barrie (Admin, City of Barrie) responded  · 

The City of Barrie is in the process of creating a new comprehensive Zoning By-law, which will be designed to implement the vision and policies of Barrie’s recently adopted Official Plan.

Due to public interest, the new Zoning By-law proposes to establish zoning standards for chicken enclosures and use provisions for backyard chickens (see section 4.9).

To download the first draft of the new Zoning By-law and for full information, please visit BuildingBarrie.ca/zoning.

The first draft of the new Zoning By-law is open for public feedback online until April 28, 2023. Public meetings are also being held to gather feedback:

In-person Public Information Centre

An in-person Public Information Centre will be held on April 19 from 4pm to 7pm at the Barrie City Hall Rotunda (70 Collier Street). The public is welcome to drop in to provide feedback. No pre-registration required

Virtual Public Information Centre

A virtual Public Information Centre will be held on April 20 from 2–3pm. Please register in advance to attend.

City staff will collect public and stakeholder feedback from the first draft of the Zoning By-law and incorporate this into a second draft, which is planned to be released in summer 2023.

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  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Unfortunately I would NOT be in favor, unless the city of Barrie gets better at their current DOG CONTROL...yes there is a leash by law, do people LISTEN, NO...I have been attacked with my wee dog FIVE TIMES now, I have made complaints and STILL these people don’t listen...what about the stoop n scoop, I can name four people on my street who do nothing, **** and walk away, and one of those people is a senior gentleman...so no, more animals to cause issues when the city can’t even do anything with dogs AND cats already...and we all know there’s always the lazy ignorant few who will do what they want regardless of what the city rules say

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I think it's a great idea. With proper guidelines, there is no reason why this could not be successful.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Interestingly City of Orillia started a 2-year pilot project in June 2017 "in response to requests by residents and in the interest of encouraging local food production". The details of their project is well laid out as well as all the parameters for keeping of backyard hens (e.g. properties must be 500 sq m or greater, the coop must be specific distances from house and property lines, hens must be in their coop from 9pm to 6am, max 4 hens, etc). Take a look at this site if interested. City of Barrie could follow-suit with Orillia's pilot project.

    https://www.orillia.ca/en/city-hall/backyard-hens.aspx

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    This is a bad idea, if my neighbors start raising chicken I move out of Barrie.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I supported this last time (back in 2016) and from what I recall I only received notification the same day (a few hours, in fact) that CIty Hall was having the meeting to discuss it. So long as there are parameters on the home that applies for backyard hens (e.g. limit number of chickens, coop must be a certain distance from neighbour, yard must be certain size) then I don't see how it will be any different than someone having a number of dogs or cats! In my experience living in another city that allows backyard hens, they do not smell and they are not noisy - they are no more noisy than a dog that barks everytime someone passes their house! Let's bring backyard hens to Barrie!

  • Lindsay commented  ·   ·  Report

    I am all for this. I would hope the City of Barrie can re-open this discussion. I understand there are concerns however there can still be rules and regulations around the ownership of backyard hens. Is there somewhere citizens can go to ensure they are kept up to date on the status of this discussion? It would be of interest to know the next steps after the “gathering feedback” phase.

  • Joe commented  ·   ·  Report

    City council is a joke......they did/do not take this suggestion seriously.
    It was laughed at the last time it was brought up which has severely diminished my faith in them.
    I am still completely on board for backyard chickens.....not likely here though.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    A further benefit is that there would be fewer chickens subjected to cruel lives in unbelievable cramped cages. I buy free range or free run eggs, but if I had a backyard, I'd go for chickens. I hate cruelty to animals.

  • Rob Hodgson commented  ·   ·  Report

    The smells from chicken farms is revolting and should be allowed within city limits. Buy your eggs from a farmer and help his business to grow.

  • P commented  ·   ·  Report

    Great idea. Would be a wonderful family project and also provide FRESH eggs every day.

  • E. commented  ·   ·  Report

    There was significant response the last time this was suggested. From all sources, residents were not notified of the meeting to discuss. Can this not be brought up to council with an effective presentation to debunk myths and discuss the positive reasons for Backyard Hens. Barrie could be putting itself on the map in keeping up with progressive cities. Lets do this.

  • Kate commented  ·   ·  Report

    Great initiative!!!

    Chickens are not noisy (roosters are but they aren't required for eggs) and chickens do not smell (sure a barn of 10000 will but not a few in a backyard).

    Dogs produce more waste and noise that a few backyard hens do!

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Why did not someone think of this before. I can't wait to see this pass through council. This is a marvellous thing to teach our children and to introduce them to the world of nature.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    A fine idea. Novel and in line with the movement towards GREEN.

  • E. commented  ·   ·  Report

    Support Backyard Hens in Barrie Facebook Group

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    I’d love my own eggs but it’s the noise I wouldn’t want. Bad enough having dogs barking at al hours of the day and night.

  • Mark commented  ·   ·  Report

    The idea was “shelved” by council, not denied. Let’s get it voted in.

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