Keeping hens should be everyone's right.

For an update to this post click here.

I live in Sidney BC. Currently we are not allowed to keep hens, rabbits or any other farm animals. Bees are only allowed on 750 sq meter lots. My yard is large by Sidney standards. We bought this house new in 1979. We have 603 sq metres. So very few people in Sidney can keep bees. in a time that we are losing honey bees at an alarming rate this just doesn't make sense.

I find this interesting on many levels. Sidney is a small town. Cities like Los Angeles, New York, Vancouver, Seattle, Victoria and on and on allow chickens in yards. How is it possible that major metropolitan cities have bylaws allowing hens, sometimes goats and bees. There are restaurants in New York City that have bee hives on the roof to supply the restaurant with honey. Yet, in tiny little Sidney, we have an ambiguous and restrictive bylaw (see below).

Why do I feel so passionate about this:
I live on Vancouver Island. Vancouver Island is in very real danger of a major earthquake as we sit along side the San Andreas Fault. We are overdue. Vancouver Island has a two to three day supply of food on the island. If such a catastrophic earthquake should happen, we would be cut off from the mainland......and only three days worth of food.

The other reason I am passionate about people taking charge of their own food supply, is peak oil. Peak oil, is literally the peak production of oil. We apparently are there now. Oil will never be more plentiful or cheaper than it is now. The supply is only going to shrink from here on out. Also, the average food item is being shipped 2500 miles. So imagine if you will, oil is now a rarer commodity, the price is going up and up. It will reach a point that no one could pay for a pineapple to come from Hawaii. Or a banana from Central America. 

There is also the GMO (genetically modified organism) issue. There are a great many of us who believe that GMOs are carcinogenic and deadly. It is getting harder and harder to eat a Non GMO diet unless you go totally organic. Even then, GMO seeds drifting onto organic farms is becoming a problem.
I think we should all be learning how to grow food. We are going to need it. We need to show our children how to garden.

That brings us back to chickens...and bees. Chickens average slightly less than one egg per day. So if you have seven chickens you will get 5-6 eggs per day except in winter. Less in winter. A few hens for eggs, bees for honey, some veggies (we can grow them year round on the island) and a supply of fresh or purified water, and we could easily get by until the food starts moving on and off the island again. So this applies to everyone everywhere, not just those of us on an island. 

So Sidney Town Council. Let us have our chickens. Let us have our bees. Let us have an Urban Homesteading bylaw. Let us be responsible for our own food choices. Let us have a "Tour De Coop" every year. Cities everywhere are doing it. It's where all the people with the cute chicken coops welcome the public to their yard to see it. We could become famous!!!! We could be the little town that did. That took the Urban Homesteading lifestyle to the next level.

The writing is on the wall. It is obvious to me that we will go back to how things were done 100 years ago. Every yard will have fruit trees. Vegetable gardens. A few hens. A beehive. That will be the new normal.


Sidney Bylaw
Here are the ambiguous and restrictive Sidney Bylaws. Note part (a) sets out the rules restricting where farm animals can be. Note part (b) says clearly that farm animals are prohibited. I have contacted the bylaw officer who admitted they contradict each other, but part (b) is the one in effect. Why? What if I say I am using part (a)?

CONTROL OF FARM ANIMALS:

(a) No person shall suffer or permit any Farm Animal owned by him or in his charge to:
Stray or trespass on a highway;
Stray or trespass in a public place;
Stray or trespass on private property; and
Graze on unfenced land, unless they are securely tethered.

(b) No person shall keep or harbour any farm animals, poultry or rabbit on any parcel of land.

5.1 CONTROL OF BEES:
(a) No person shall keep or harbour Bees on any parcel of land under 750 square metres; and
(b) No person shall keep or harbour Bees in excess of two (2) beehives on any parcel of land over 750 square metres.