Grande Prairie residents interested in keeping chickens in their backyards could be waiting a while. A report on how a number of other cities and towns handle urban chickens was prepared and presented to Councillors and included a number of considerations. Enforcement Services Program Assistant Stephanie Cajolais says the city would have to introduce restrictions for the number and age of chickens being kept, along with how they are kept and disposed of.
“Certainly the investment in having chickens would be substantial. It’s a lot of work to keep the coops clean and the municipalities that we surveyed certainly had lots of standards in place.”
A chicken bylaw that was approved in the City of Red Deer in 2014 and a pilot project for urban hens in Edmonton were two programs city administration consulted for their report.
“Considerations include prohibition of the sale and distribution of eggs, limits to the number of chickens held per single family dwelling, prohibiting of roosters, coops must be located so they reduce noise and odor complaints.”
Enforcement Services estimates that there have been about 5 requests for permission to keep urban chickens in the past 4 years.