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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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  • 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.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Report

    Hens make great pets, and they're key to fighting Lyme disease by eating ticks hiding in the grass.

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