When I moved to Sudbury a little over a year ago, one of the first things my kids asked was “when can we get chickens again?”
After looking up city bylaws, as I had done before we built our little backyard coop in the previous, similarly sized city we'd lived in, I sadly told them that chickens are not an option if we live in the city.
It was hard for me to explain because I could see no reason to prohibit owning a few hens as pets like many people do in cities and towns all over North America. We'd never lived anywhere this was an issue before, and we've lived in cities of all sizes.
Owning hens was a great experience for our family. We found it educational and fun. Nuisance insects in our yard disappeared due to our hens' healthy appetites, and the hens enjoyed our food scraps. My kids weren't very interested in the kale we grew in the garden until they found the hens loved it, watching them devour the greens was great entertainment.
Our hens did lay eggs eventually, but that wasn't the only reason we kept them — they were fun pets to interact with and observe. I do think receiving healthy eggs is a nice bonus part of hen ownership. I personally don't want to contribute to the cruelties of factory farming.
Caring for a hen myself, I can be sure she gets to go outside each day and will be allowed to live a long life no matter how many eggs she produces. When I eat an egg, I like knowing exactly what the hen was fed and how well she is treated.
I want to be able to see the wonder in my kids' eyes when they pull a warm egg out from under a hen and marvel at the green color of the shell, or the surprise when they crack a home-harvested egg and find two yolks inside. These are experiences I was lucky to have growing up raising chickens, and I firmly believe they helped connect me to the importance of treating animals kindly and the value of fresh, quality ingredients in foods prepared at home.
Families in Sudbury deserve the option of small-scale, responsible hen ownership. I am hoping city council votes to allow backyard hens in residential areas in the city, and I think it will positively contribute to our quality of life.
Tessa D. Hall
Sudbury