Need help with laws in Kawartha lakes ontario

[canadianmedic]

I've done a ton of digging and can't find any bylaws on having chickens. We have an acreage here and it is zoned rural. I would assume we should be fine to have a backyard coop on the property but when I called the city they said it's illegal unless we are zoned agriculture.
Someone please help!

 

[CameronSmiths]

Hi there,

We are from City of Kawartha Lakes as well. We are in a similar situation, planning on getting some chickens in the spring, but unsure of the bylaws. We have searched through all the bylaws and can't seem to find anything pertaining to chickens - or in fact even livestock. We are zoned rural as well. Our property even has a small horse barn where the previous owners kept a couple horses, so we assumed chickens would not be a problem. We know several other people with rural properties that have chickens, so we weren't going to call the City, and just go ahead with our plan (ignorance is bliss, right?). Anyways, i'm curious to hear what exactly they told you? Seems from my research that they don't even have a bylaw in effect for chickens - so how could such a "rule" be upheld??

- Cassandra

 

[canadianmedic]

Go Cassandra!

Okay so they told me that unless you are zoned "agricultural" then you can NOT have chickens.
We are in the middle of nowhere and are going to have chickens anyways.

The gal I spoke to at the city said that unless they get a complaint, they don't enforce it.

So I guess take a risk. We have neighbours who have chickens and have had for years with no issues....