Hi from Foxboro, Ontario! getting annoyed with my city :/

[redsoxs]

Greetings from Kansas, Zigapor, and

! Happy you joined us! Good luck to you!!

 

[sumi]

Hello and welcome to BYC

Go round your neighbours and see who's got chickens and ask them?

 

[Zigapor]

hey everyone and wow, thanks for all the welcomes!

still no word on the chickens, but we've decided to go ahead and build the chicken area up anyways. We found people in the next county over who successfully fought their township's bylaws and won the right to raise chickens! They have a much smaller property, and are much closer to the city... so, i'm hoping that means we may have a shot after all! (although it may take months) They had purchased chickens before taking on the bylaws, we may just do that too Either way, I want to have the best chicken area possible so I can show it off and say hey, look at how well they will be house, and how far from the neighbours, yaddy yaddy ya...

My next question is... any recomendations on an outside area for the birds? Their shelter will be a tractor shed that I will convert and add boxes to, but I don't know how much "outside" space they will need. Like I had said previously, i'm only interested in 4, maybe 5 chickens max, and no roosters!

another question... anyone have experience with ducks? are they easy to raise and care for? how are their eggs?

 

[sumi]

10 sq feet per chicken is the recommended space, but more would be good too! Go say Hi in the Ducks section. There are some really nice people hanging out there who'll answer all your questions.

 

[aaabirdman]

Welcome to BYC from NY

 

[Zigapor]

guess what, guess what, guess what!!!! we got approval!!!! WOOOOOHHHHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

now to start prepping the areas.... oooohhhh, I'm so excited!!!!

question... would it be better to get chickens now, knowing our cold canadian winter is just around the corner, or would waiting till spring be best?

 

[Kevin565]

!!!!!

I personally would just wait until spring.

 

[liz9910]

from California, I can't imagine why people can have other farm animals and you can't have chickens?

 

[eoterholm]

Hi,
I also live in Foxboro and have had a very similar experience.

I was told after many calls back and forth that the bylaw people only handle this on a complaints basis. The guy basically told me to go ahead.

I asked how to get the bylaw changed or updated. The bylaw officer told me they wont be changing it since there was no pressure to do so. They also told me that no one else had ever called them to ask these questions. I asked who I could call or write to they told me not to bother.

My feeling is that they wont do anything unless a bunch of us stand up and contact our councilor.

We should be looking at Kingston who has legalized them and at Quinte West.

Good Luck,
Eden

 

[Zigapor]

Hey Eden, thanks for your reply! I actually did get a hold of the right person (can't remember his name though). He's the guy in charge of planning and development with the city, and was incredibly helpful! Chickens are allowed in Foxboro as long as your property is not zoned as RR (rural residential). Ours is both RR and H (hazard zone which is the flood planes of the Moira) but all livestock is permitted in the H zone as long as you have the ok from the Conservation authority, which i also got. They basically told me that if my structure (coop) does not require a permit to build, or is pre-existing, then there is nothing for them to worry about. If the structure DOES need a permit to build, then they'd have to come out and ok it (just make sure it won't float away if the river floods i guess lol)