Nova Scotia: Supreme Court on chickens as livestock

[JaneP]

Thanks Lynne for your kind words. We are taking Fanny with us when we go, and we are allowed by the prosecution to add some hens to keep her company, (the prosecutor said, "no roosters, right? Because if we get another complaint...) so we can fill out our little flock again, until we go. We'll take them all with us.

We lost most of our flock to a predator - all gone in one afternoon - only a few days after we first went to court to defend them. It was very sad for us. We were very attached to them, especially one that we hand raised in the bathroom (due to a splayed leg condition - that we successfully treated) as a chick, and who was very friendly with us. Henny would sit with the children on the back steps, considering them her "flock". We are now finishing up a roofed run, to keep Fanny and the new girls safe.

There is a funny look to this - a sort of "you can keep your birds since you're getting out of town anyway" so you'll be out of our hair - you trouble makers you! I'm glad we did put up a fuss. I hope it helps in the long run.

Jane

 

[SewingDiva]

Quote:
Oh absolutely - I literally thought you meant the city of Boston, in which case it's a "no". Boston is kind of an exception, for the most part MA cities and towns are pretty tolerant of chickens.

Mass also has a strong "home rule" tradition. Each town really has quite a bit of autonomy granted to it by the legislature to run their own affairs, so don't assume that a state law will prevail in every town - there are plenty of exceptions. People have been living here since 1630 and the statutory landscape is very dense. So just make sure you research your new town as well, but you seem pretty attuned to that already.

Welcome to Massachusetts! It's a quirky place but I love living here.

~Phyllis

 

[LynneP]

You lost birds while you were at court? How very sad. We have a serious predator problem here so our girls are 'free run' and the run is roofed. We also buried hardware cloth around the base and used it for the sections of the run above ground ( in link below).

When I see how easy it is to ship birds internationally, I puzzle over the contradiction of local laws. Of course they're entrenched in historical practice and hard to change. I'm so pleased to finally have my own chickens, they're 'mixed bin' but turned out to be golden comets and they're a delight. They think hubby is their roo and they squat for me too.

I wish you the very best as you embark on another adventure, and I hope you will return here to let us know how you're managing!

 

[Xploreorganics]

I am so glad I have found this case. I am having a similar issue here in Newfoundland. I have 7 pet chickens and have had them prior to many of our neighbors moving on our road. They are clean and cared for very well, we love them very much. We live in a rural town (Pc-Sp) just outside the city and prior to moving into our home we checked the town regulations and found no bylaws or even animal control regulations.

After a disgruntled neighbor complained about our birds (Do to another personal issue he has with us). Our town started inspecting our property unannounced. On every occasion, the inspectors, town manager, mayor and councilors found or property to be immaculate.

The town stated that under our residential zoning there is no mention of “allowing” farm animals. This has me stumped; there are no bylaws, so they are going by the zoning only to state we are not allowed to have our pet chickens because it is not listed as a permissible use under the land use zoning. However, due to the lack of bylaws and the fact that no animals are listed as “permitted” how can this even be an issue in my town?

Wouldn’t this same thinking lead one to believe that in that case no animals at all, be it dogs or cats would not be permitted?

Their idea is that under their town’s agricultural definitions, separate from the zone tables, it lists Broiler chickens (1000) as an animal unit. This definition is for the keeping of farm animals, and I do not have 1000 chickens. I have 7.

At this point the town has stated that it has used its digression and “allowed” our pet chickens. Our neighbor has now taken his complaint to the province to ask that the town’s decision be overturned due to us keeping farm animals in a RI area.

Hopefully all will go well at the hearing, but the question which still remains in my mind is that, all of this stress anguish and loss of privacy we have been suffering trying to fight for our pets was there even any grounds for the town to do any of this? I mean if I had 7 cats there would not be an issue. And knowing that there are no bylaws or animal control regulations is a town authorized to make any decision regarding the keeping of pets of any kind?

The idea would be, on the basis of their thinking, if a zone does not specifically list a use, then that use can’t be preformed. Then nobody should have any pets, perhaps people wouldn’t be allowed to spray pesticides on their lawns (farm chemicals under their farming definitions).

If someone could enlighten me it would be greatly appreciated. I am at my wits’ end with all of this.

Thanks
please feel free to email me at [email protected]

 

[LynneP]

Your municipal laws are as twisted and inconsistent as ours! At least in Canadian law, some provincial and even federal laws supercede the municipal codes. It depends on how much research and adversarial action you are prepared to take to research and defend yourself. Also, pay attention to new federal laws regarding biosecurity. What we need is a good property lawyer with chickens!

I understand about the stress- things like this can stretch out and resolution is difficult to achieve. In our municipality chickens are horses are not livestock, for example. Pigs are. So in fact my zoning allows me to keep pigs though there is a restriction on letting the boars wander. Imagine! Confusing, frustrating. And the feds can enter property and seize/cull birds showing any sign of disease or for which biosecurity is not deemed adequate. New laws being added every few months, latest are turkey poult laws....ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

 

[LynneP]

Federal updates March 2009-

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/cgi-bin/im...tSurvey&SDDS=5039&lang=en&db=imdb&adm=8&dis=2

 

[TrevorS]

Thirteen years later, Halifax finally allows chickens throughout the municipality. I'm the husband in this story, and we are still in the Boston area, in a "Right to Farm" town. Besides chickens, we now also have ducks and geese!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova...ts-now-allowed-to-keep-hens-1.6201099?cmp=rss

 

[U_Stormcrow]

So I'm the guy in that article

One thing that is important to point out is that the judge *didn't* decide that you can't keep chickens as pets where I live. Because of a technicality, he only decided that we can't keep them in an accessory building (i.e. a chicken coop). Given that we're leaving in less than a year, the city decided to stop fighting and let us keep them until we leave.

The result is that it is still undecided in Halifax if you can keep chickens as pets in a residential zone. Actually, it's more complicated than that, because Halifax has 21 different sets of land-use by-laws, depending on the area you live in.

I still think that, where I live, the by-law does not say that I can't keep chickens as pets in a residential zone, and I think if the court had answered that question on Wednesday, it would have been in my favour. One thing that didn't come out in the newspaper articles was that the judge, Chief Justice Kennedy of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, in court, on record, called the person who complained about our chickens a "busybody." That's priceless.

Regarding chickens in Boston, it must depend on which community you live in. We are looking at west of the city, just outside the 495, around Littleton, Harvard, Bolton etc. We have looked at the by-laws there, and they seem very sensible, basing what you are allowed to do on the size of your land. Also, Massachusetts state law includes a protection of your 'right to farm' when you have five acres of land or more (so we're hoping to get 5+ acres).

Thanks to everyone for your support -- it's amazing and encouraging how much attention this issue is getting, and almost all of it positive. I spent almost all day on Wednesday either in court, or doing media interviews -- and calls are still coming in for more.

I won't tell you about Canadian law, I don't have much expertise there.

Though I am not an Attorney, merely a reasonably well read invidiual with some odd choices of subject, I will offer opinion on US law.

Be VERY cautious of relying on state "Right to Farm" laws. They are designed to protect ongoing, large scale, commercial operations against claims arising out of (or grounded in, as you prefer) the law of Nuisance. Which, frankly, gets abused a lot in the US.

Even if you have the acreage, if the zoning doesn't allow it, the local right to farm law in almost every state won't "allow" chickens. It only allows existing commercial operations to continue, in spite of new neighbors and zoning changes.

/edit Just realized how old the post is. Glad your local zoning allowed chickens, here in the US, and that you checked before moving.