This page is dedicated to listing Ontario city chicken keeping by-laws. I have only listed cities where by-laws apply. Rural properties may not be subject to zoning bylaws or regulations. Check your local township/city website for more information on your bylaws. The cities listed below are especially effected by "Urban Chicken Keeping" bylaws.
No person shall keep ducks, geese, poultry or pigeons within the limits of
The City of Guelph unless kept in pens, with floors kept free from
standing water, and regularly cleaned and disinfected, and that such pens
be a distance of at least 50’ from any school, church or dwelling house not
including the owners dwelling house.
It shall be an offense to contravene any section of this By-law. Any
person convicted of an offense hereunder shall be liable to a fine not less
than $23 and not more than $500.
By-law Number 2860 is hereby repealed.
PASSED this TWENTY FIRST day of OCTOBER, 1985.
Waterloo Chicken By-law
Kitchener Chicken By-law
Cambridge Chicken By-law
Toronto/GTA Chicken Bylaw
Please be patient whilst the page is still under construction. You may click each heading to read the PDF bylaw document.
Guelph Chicken By-law
BE IT THEREFORE ENACTED by the Council of The Corporation of the City of Guelph as follows:
No person shall keep ducks, geese, poultry or pigeons within the limits of
The City of Guelph unless kept in pens, with floors kept free from
standing water, and regularly cleaned and disinfected, and that such pens
be a distance of at least 50’ from any school, church or dwelling house not
including the owners dwelling house.
It shall be an offense to contravene any section of this By-law. Any
person convicted of an offense hereunder shall be liable to a fine not less
than $23 and not more than $500.
By-law Number 2860 is hereby repealed.
PASSED this TWENTY FIRST day of OCTOBER, 1985.
Waterloo Chicken By-law
Kitchener Chicken By-law
Cambridge Chicken By-law
Permitted Lands: No person shall keep poultry and fowl on land unless such land is zoned under the City's Zoning By-law:
(A) for agricultural, open space, industrial or rural residential purposes; or
(B) for residential purposes where poultry or fowl were being kept on the land in question as of April 4, 2004.
Containment of Poultry or Fowl: No person shall domestic poultry and fowl unless such domestic poultry and fowl are kept in suitably enclosed coops, pens, cages, lofts or runs.
Location of Coops, Pens, Lofts or Runs: No personal shall locate a pen, cage, loft, coop and/or run unless it is:
(A) located at the rear of the person's lot;
(B) situated at least three (3) meters from the property line; and
(C) situated at least fifteen (15) meters from any school, church, dwelling, or other premises used for human occupation or habitation, other than the premises occupied exclusively by the owner or keeper and his or her family.
Condition of Coops, Pens, Lofts or Runs: All pens, cages, lofts, coops and runs shall be kept in a clean and sanitary condition.
Obligation to Care: Any person who owns or becomes the owner of any animal shall immediately ensure that the animal is provided with adequate and appropriate care, food, water shelter, exercise, attention and veterinary care as may be required.
Toronto/GTA Chicken Bylaw
Responsibility to care for animals.
Every person who keeps an animal within the City's boundaries shall provide the animal or cause it to be provided with adequate and appropriate care, food, water, shelter, exercise, attention and veterinary care as may be required to meet the need of the species.
Enclosures for animals kept out of doors.
If an animal is customarily kept out of doors, the person having the custody or control of the animal shall provide for its use at all times a structurally sufficient, weather-proofed and insulated enclosure of appropriate size and dimension.
*Clarification: Chickens are Galliformes, which are prohibited in The City of Toronto. Galliformes are an order of heavy-bodied ground-feeding birds, containing turkey, grouse, chicken, New and Old World quail, ptarmigan, partridge, pheasant, and the Cracidae.
Burlington Chicken Bylaw