Urban Chicken Proposal Surrey Backyard Chickens

1. Urban Chicken Proposal Surrey Backyard Chickens

2. OBJECTIVES • To establish a bylaw to re-integrate hens into Surrey’s backyards in a responsible and healthy manner. • To develop, vet and monitor applicants for a pilot project for backyard chickens initially involving 10 families. • To act as a mentoring service to assist the City with problem properties. • To act as a referral service for the City for new hen owners. • Facilitate the initiation and ongoing function of chickens in community gardens and other forms of urban agriculture. • Develop workshops and education regarding proper management in the raising of small flocks, coop design and waste management.

3. Growing Trend in Many Major Cities In North America • Vancouver, North Vancouver, New Westminster, Saanich, Victoria, Gibsons, West Vancouver, Portland, • Los Angeles, New York and many more • Chicken keeping is not harkening back to older rural times. The movement that has taken hold in cities all over North America is about the future and sustainability. It just makes sense. • Chickens are in keeping with the environmental sustainability, food security, education and community building mandates of the City of Surrey’s Sustainability Charter

4. Backyard Chickens Are: • Educational- Chickens provide education about where our food comes from. • Friendly, social, low-maintenance, small, require little space, quiet and inexpensive to keep. • A great opportunity to practice responsible pet ownership. • Natural manufactures of inexpensive protein-eggs. • Offer the opportunity to produce a little of our own healthy nutritious food that will contribute to the well-being of local families.

5. Backyard Gardens + Hens = Local Healthful Food Production

6. Hens Are Natural Composters • Reduce the burden on City solid waste management. • Hens eat table scraps and garden waste transforming them into manure rich in nutrients which in turn creates rich soil for our gardens. • Reduces the amount of chemical fertilizers required to grow nutritious food for our families. • Reduce, Reuse, Recycle in Action!

7. Hens instead of Pesticides

8. Hens Do Not Attract Pests or Increase Predator Populations • The presence of hens does not attract predators to the area; predators are already there. • Backyard hens should never be out of their coop/run/tractor without direct supervision • Rodents are attracted to the feed not the hens. • How do we know? Because numerous cities are already proving this to be true. • The proposed bylaw specifies that animal feed be stored in predator proof containers and feeders be kept in raised coops (preferably on sand beds). • Coops shall be designed and maintained in such a way as to be impermeable to rodents, wild birds, and predators including, but not limited to, dogs, cats, raccoons and skunks .

9. Store Feed Properly = No Rats

10. Feed on Clean Sand Bed in Raised Coop

11. Hens Are Not Smelly • Hens themselves are not smelly. It is only the feces which smells. This is true of all animals. • A 4 lb laying hen contributes 1/5 lb of manure a day which can be composted and used to enhance our soils. • An average dog generates ¾ to 1 lb of manure a day which cannot be composted because of harmful bacteria and parasites which can affect humans. Dog and cat waste is considered a major source of bacterial pollution in urban watersheds. • In small flocks – “If you smell manure – you are smelling mismanagement.”

12. Lot Size Does Not Matter • Hens provide the same benefits to families on smaller lots as they do on larger lots. • Hens require the same if not less maintenance as any small pet. An enclosed city coop has a very small footprint. Ideally 2ft² per bird. • Adjust the amount of hens to the lot size.

13. Backyard Coops are Attractive & Clean • Well Maintained • Often Portable • Fully enclosed

14. Are Chickens On Small Lots A Greater Or Lesser Risk Than Chickens On Larger Lots? • The type of Avian Flu that is infective to humans has never been detected in a backyard or non-commercial flock in North America. • Avian Flu is spread by contact with contaminated feces of wild migratory waterfowl. • Key issues are sanitation and contact with wild birds. • Backyard hens are contained in an enclosure and watered and fed inside this enclosure – ideally they will be fed in the coop area on a sand bed. • Watering systems such as nipple watering stations are not open to the environment and provide protection from water-born pathogens. • Science clearly shows the risk of backyard chickens being infected or infecting other poultry or humans with Avian Flu in B.C. is • “Negligible to Low” BCCDC

15. Continued… • AsGRAIN, an international sustainable agriculture group, concluded in a 2006 report: “When it comes to bird flu, diverse small scale poultry farming is the solution, not the problem.” • As residents of an agricultural community where Avian Flu is an ongoing concern among commercial poultry growers, and following consultation with a member of this committee, the proposed bylaw will include the following: • Owners must be willing to submit to random CFIA testing • Owners must be willing to cull flock if directed to do so by CFIA • Owners must follow Environmental Guidelines for Poultry Producers in so far as they are applicable to small flocks in urban settings

16. Chicken Owners Are: • Responsible Pet Owners – ensuring adequate food, shelter and health needs are met. • Respectful Neighbours - siting coop away from homes. • Aware that food security begins in their own backyard.

17. Surrey as: • Visionary - Providing long-term, viable practices that foster environmental sustainability and self-sufficiency. Sets the example for other agricultural cities! • Advocate - Encouraging communication and collaboration between interested community organizations such as Surrey Backyard Chickens, Food Action Coalition and Sources Food Bank and local farmers. • Leader - Encouraging social community by sharing resources and knowledge, all the while enhancing healthful, affordable food consumption among residents • Educator – Initiating education in urban agriculture, sustainable living, and green spaces

18. Proposed Backyard Hens Bylaw for Surrey • Pilot Project involving up to10 families • Maximum 6-8 hens (maximum 4 hens per household in Pilot Project) • Permit required • Owners must be willing to submit to random CFIA testing • Owners must be willing to cull flock if directed to do so by CFIA • Owners must follow Environmental Guidelines for Poultry Producers in so far as they are applicable to small flocks in urban settings • Manure must be composted in enclosed bin or deep litter method • All other animal control bylaws will apply: noise, odour, animals-at-large • Roosters are prohibited • Home slaughter is prohibited • Coops must be built to agreed upon standards (fully enclosed) • Coops must be 3.5 meters from any dwelling • Coops must not be built onto a shared fence • Hens must be confined from 9:00pm to 7:00am • Feed must be stored securely and hens fed in raised coop (preferably on a sand bed) • Sale of eggs and manure prohibited

19. In Conclusion Hens suffer from a PR problem. People think they are dirty, noisy, smelly and attract rats. The truth is, a few well cared for hens are cleaner and quieter than one average dog or three neighbourhood cats that poop in the flower bed. Plus you get eggs. The bottom line is that the proposed bylaw allowing backyard hens in Surrey succeeds in addressing all the major concerns that are often brought up by opponents. We want a bylaw that is restrictive but not prohibitive and one that protects our neighbours from potential nuisance . Within this framework; we also recognize and address the value of our commercial flocks and the need to protect health concerns within it. Our pet hens enrich our lives, teach responsibility, entertain us and provide us with healthy, nutritious, delicious eggs and some small measure of self-sufficiency.