Bear Awareness Society Express Concern Over Backyard Chickens
Prince George, B.C. – The backyard chicken debate is heating up.
On Sunday, 250News reported on the efforts of the group Poultry for PG and it’s plan to have council consider bylaw and zoning changes to allow urban dwellers the chance to house six chickens or less in their backyards (see story here).
In response to that, the Northern Bear Awareness Society says it has some concerns over such changes.
“Well, I think it’s important to say that we’re a group that provides education and information,” says president Dave Bakker. “We won’t oppose any decisions and we won’t stand in the way of anybody who wants to decide this. We just want to provide the information and suggestions that there is the potential for conflict.”
He says one of their main concerns is that urban chickens could be yet another unsecured attractant to worry about.
“We’re concerned about the cleanliness of the area and we have heard of stories that bears have gotten into chicken coops. It’s unclear if it’s either the chickens or the housekeeping that’s involved around the chickens or a combination of both but it’s still a concern.”
Bakker says there’s been examples of such instances in the Golden/Revelstoke area, Whitehorse and even Durango Colorado.
“And just because you don’t hear it’s happening it doesn’t mean it’s not happening.”
He adds his group has reached out to Poultry for PG and has made some suggestions.
“Chickens have to be in their coops every night. You have to keep the area clean and what we’re finding most effective is electric fencing be installed around the pens.”
Comments
I really don’t think the electric fence will keep the bear out. I sure hate to be the one who gets to enforce that rule. all chickens has to be in the coop every night.
Actually, the chicken head for the coop on their own volition at dusk.
Anyone who doesn’t keep their chickens in a coop over night or in a secure spot during the day won’t have chickens very long. It won’t be bears, cougars or any of the other boogeymen that the naysayers are talking about, it will be your dogs, your cats or your neighbours dogs and cats that will do the damage.
Lol! I have never had a bear chase down my chickens! I’ve lost a few to coyotes or a wolf when I or the kids forgot to close the door, but never a bear. If a bear wants into the chicken house, he will get in, no door or electric wire will keep him out. I have lived in town and now in the country. Backyard chickens vs. neighbors music, mufflers, dogs barking, cats messing in the sandbox, singing front yard holiday decorations, or alarms going off in the night – I will take a chicken clucking any day!
Being I grew up on a rural farm I can concur about bears and chickens. But I really was thinking more along the lines of a Goose or a Peacock to replace my older dog. I know bears do not care much for them and then make super loud watch animals. :-)
Was it indicated Chickens or fowls (Poultry):
If So Ginny hen would also fit.
Wikipedia = “Poultry” is a term used for any kind of domesticated bird, captive-raised for its utility.
Might just be fun.
~BS
If the bear wants in to a coop or shed they get in. The neighbours had a bear peel open the door to their garden shed just out of curiosity. Chickens probably don’t attract bears anymore than compost or fruit trees.
If more people would keep bears where they belong. Right beside the eggs and pancakes. Bears would not be a problem.
The big distinction though is urban bears vs rural bears. We have constant issues with bears being attracted to our bird feeder up here on the Hart, to the point we either don’t even put it out any more in the summer or make sure we bring it in at night. We also have a place that is far removed from the city and the bears out there have never even heard of a bird feeder and will walk through the yard without a second glance at birdseed. So the bears you find coming into people’s backyards are not your average bear, they have vastly different habits from living close to people.
Biggest problem with backyard chickens is the noise. Back a few years the folks a few doors down were illegally “babysitting” some chickens for a while (or so they told By-Law) and the constant noise drove us nuts. Even a few backyards away you could hear the silly birds non-stop day and night especially in the summer when windows were open. I tried to put up with it and finally got By-Law involved when the decided a rooster would be a good idea too. Stupid thing crowed day and night!! There was also the smell but that was another story. Bad, bad idea…keep them in the country where they belong.
Have you noticed how our society is more and more and more becoming one where we all expect, nay we all demand that we be able to do what we want, when we want, where we want if we want and to heck with what anybody else thinks or cares or has concerns about?
Just a bit self-centered, if I dare say so! But we are not allowed to say so out of fear of being ostracized or being labelled a bully!
Being open, honest and politically incorrect, if my “in town” next door neighbours wanted to keep chickens in their backyard, I think that I would ask them, in the nicest way possible of course, if they had freaking rocks in their heads instead of a brain! And then in response to their need for chickens, perhaps I’d go looking to keep a few hogs and maybe a couple of cows! And a goat, a billy goat, haha! After all, we should all get to do our own thing, right?
Then me and the missus could sit on our back deck and watch our livestock! Yeehaw! Let’s turn the whole neighbourhood into a farm!
Along with large bears.
You will also have to start contending with the smaller pests.
Like mice , rats & squirrels.
Which could make for a exciting backyard.
Posted on Tuesday, February 9, 2016 @ 9:05 AM by Logical One with a score of 1
Along with large bears.
You will also have to start contending with the smaller pests.
Like mice , rats & squirrels.
Which could make for a exciting backyard.
———–
You’ve obviously never seen what happens to a mouse in a chicken coop.
Are there rats in Prince George?
Axman you left out foxes, they sure liked our chickens when I was a kid along with the bobcats.
If your neighbor is thinking of keeping chickens the best thing to do would be to set a dozen eggs free on their doorstep say two times a week.
Where do we find the petition AGAINST backyard chickens?
stick-in-the-mud
noun
informal
noun: stick-in-the-mud; plural noun: stick-in-the-muds
a person who is dull and unadventurous and who resists change.
synonyms: (old) fogey, conservative, fossil, troglodyte, museum piece, fuddy-duddy, square, stuffed shirt, dinosaur, throwback
“her fun-loving boyfriend had become her stick-in-the-mud husband”
Out where I live, just sittin shootin the breeze, a fox comes trottin down the road with one big black juicy chicken in his mouth, we all laughed like hell. Made my day.
you want chickens and pigs, get out of town, and home school your kids.
Please excuse the pun, but chicken keeping in the city is a cockamamie idea!
cock·a·ma·mie
adjective
ridiculous; implausible.
“a cockamamie theory”
Thank you, but no!
Its like a wildlife sanctuary out here. We have donkeys baying, goats bleating, cows mooing, horses whinning, chickens clucking, roosters crowing,peacocks screeching, and of course the fox barking…..Would I trade all this to move back into town…not in this lifetime!
I just wonder if that poultry group has any experience with chickens or is it some trendy article out of mother earth.
I am truly curious which one of our city councilors names will come forth as spearheading this chickens in town movement, and if there are , one can be sure it will be passed….all the little pet projects seem to be getting passed.
I am not going to name names but I have my thoughts….
Where I lived, bear came once in 10 years to raid the coop, made off with 5. Didn’t come back and that was in a city this size.
Electric fences do keep bears out. Foxes and coyotes take more chickens than any bear has.
And there is no problem with mice and rats around chickens.
Very few noises from chickens but the clucking. I don’t want roosters in town, but we’re talking about raising a few hens for meat and eggs, nothing wrong with that. There were a lot of chickens raised in this town in the past and never heard a comment about smell or noise.
So long as folks learn before they start raising them I’m good with that.
There will always be one or two who screw up, but that’s life.
So get over yourselves. Sounds like a bunch of posters don’t have a clue.
I won’t raise them, but I’ll sure buy the eggs and a chicken or two.
Its awful funny that those that have barking dogs in town, and those that have their cats dumping and stinking up my flower garden are against chickens.
At least the chickens will be in a pen, and not slinking around the neighborhood crapping, and killing birds, or crapping on the streets, school yards, and parks.
If makes no difference to me if I see people talking to their dogs, or cats, or chickens.
I think at the very least a few chickens would be much less of a hassle than cats and dogs.
As I previously stated I seriously doubt enough people will actually keep chickens to make it a problem.
I have no faith in people to keep chickens “responsibly”. I have more faith in people being selfish and self centered. Much like all the selfish but “responsible” dog owners that leave dog crap all over the trails in town and not use the provided poop bags. Or the “responsible” drivers that speed and tailgate. Etc etc. My point is, people are lazy selfish inconsiderate slobs and they WILL cause neighbour wars with this.
And I guarantee those that will exercise their right to have them will build their chicken coops as far away from their bedroom windows as they possibly can – right against their fence with their neighbours near THEIR bedroom windows to drive THEM nuts at night.
This is more stupid activist politically correct leftist socialist crap coming from this council.
But then again, common sense and personal accountability seems to be dying in our societies that have brought us Obama, Trudeau the Twerp, and now Sanders is surging.
I weep for the future.
BCGrog, you had me until your election loss whining.
I find it kind of funny,since when do bears target chickens? I think they need to worry about fruit trees. The skunk will have eaten the eggs and the fox will have taken the chickens long before the bear gets there.
There are sure a lot of uninformed opinions expressed here, on this topic. I have kept chickens and other birds/fowl for meat and eggs continuously for almost 20 years, and as such believe that experience lends some authority to my opinion.
A flock of 6 or fewer hens is not likely to cause any of the negative results so many commenters seem to fear.
Noise?
Allow no roosters. Hens cluck when they have laid an egg, so what, less noise than a lawnmower, stereo, after market exhaust on a car or truck, or hey, kids playing in the back yard.
Smell?
Not likely, maximum of 6 birds, provided the birds have enough yard to run around in, and that the coop is shoveled out every few months, and the resulting pile covered with dirt or plant matter and that the coop is well ventilated. Non issue.
Bears?
I doubt it. Urban bears are more likely attracted to garbage and fruit trees. Foxes are the #1 predator attracted to chickens.
Disease?
Give me a break, you’re more likely to get sick from processed factory food ie. Listeria, Salmonella, E-Coli etc.
Much ado about (next to) nothing.
metalman.
Here’s the problem. What if your yard backs on to another, and you have people on both sides of you raising them. Now you have the noise of 18 chickens, especially when your wonderful neighbours build the chicken coops as far from their houses as they can so they can have a peaceful, odour free sleep at night.
Which means they build the coops as close to you as they can on their property.
I have faith in peoples’ proclivities to being a–holes.
Thanks to Grizzly2 and Metalman for talking sense on this issue.
Talking sense?
Why – because you agree with them?
So that means the rest of us speak nonsense?
Why? Because we don’t agree?
But… What does the fox say?
Laura Lawrence, you had better have all your chickens in a row when you go before council. I would research other towns that allow chickens, speak to them and determine what they allow and if there were any complaints.
Contact the Conservation Officer Service and determine the number of complaints re: bears and chickens here and elsewhere.
(I don’t think Bear Aware is really concerned, just something they have to say, for those that don’t keep their coops clean.)
Talk to a Veterinarian about chicken diseases, and Art Knapps about what chicken manure is good for.
There is quite a bit of info on the internet, but yer gonna have to give council as much information as you can to validate your request.
Years ago, this town had lots of chickens in the bowl area and I can’t recall a single concern by anyone re: smell or noise, these were the neighbors you went to, to purchase eggs or a stewing chicken.
Kids looking after chickens, well, it’s an incredible experience for them.
Good luck, I think it’s quite healthy and a very green thing to do.
When I am in the US and walk my dog in the early morning, I walk by a house that has one chicken that runs free in an unfenced backyard. This is in an urban subdivision.
It wanders around the neighbourhood where there are cats and dogs, some unleashed, just like the chicken. Sometimes the chicken even crosses the road and I ask myself “why does the chicken cross the road” :-)
I recall in another neighbourhood there was a house with 3 or 4 geese who also wandered outside the yard on occasion, crossing the road as well. Thy generally kept that exercise to the four way stop corner. :-)
How many people have free range chickens in the country and what do they do about wildlife, such as fox, for instance, getting at their chickens? I would think that whatever the frequency of that in the rural areas, it would be less in urban areas. In other words, it is likely safer to keep chickens in higher density urban areas.
To those who worry about the sound of chickens next door… I would personally be more annoyed by the sounds of: load piped motorcycles, straight piped diesels, the 17yr old neighbors Honda car with a big “fart can” tailpipe, car alarms, barking dogs and that one neighbor who is always screaming at their kids. Most of these annoyances have bylaws to cover them, but are never enforced.
As for the smell of chickens, a responsible owner would be able to keep that down… but taking a look around, responsible people seem to be in low supply.
I really dont agree with some of the current bylaws, supposedly there is still one on the books regarding having outdoor clotheslines. If they allow chickens, so be it. I highly doubt many will raise them, but if you’re next to one who does and is not responsible.. call bylaw, then City Hall and if you still get no help call SPCA citing the animals living conditions.
Hey, I am 3 months short of 68 years of age,,my wife of 48 plus years and I had at 4 summers destroyed by 20 plus illeagal chickens next to our green grass backyard due to the stench,,,city hall needed to get a court order to have chickens finally removed. Many people do not abide by laws.How the hell will bylaws enforce the 6 chicken law??
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