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Backyard chickens may be coming home to roost, but they won’t be roosting in Cobourg any time soon.

Cobourg town council said an emphatic no to supporting free rangers having free range within the town at its council meeting on July 18.

The issue came before Cobourg council after a delegation to council by resident Aliyyah Phady at the committee of the whole meeting on June 20. There, Phady made an impassioned plea to Mayor John Henderson and councillors to keep her three miniature bantam hens that she’s owned for the past six-and-a-half years.

“These animals are not considered livestock to me, they are my dear pets,” Phady told council, adding that all three are nearing the end of their lifespan.

According to a staff report, a complaint was received on May 25. The complainant alleged chickens were being kept on a property and that rats were observed in the daytime and were starting to colonize in the complainant’s yard. On June 7, bylaw officers held a meeting with the property owner who was granted a 30-day extension at that time to comply with removing the birds.

At the subsequent Cobourg committee of the whole meeting on July 11, councillors were presented with three options: direct staff to suspend enforcement of the bylaw and, in this particular instance, grant a longer extension of the notice; council permit backyard chickens and authorize staff to introduce regulations; or the status quo, whereby residents must comply with existing municipal standards.

Henderson said he wouldn’t support Option 2 of permitting backyard chickens, citing the increased man-hours needed for proper enforcement by bylaw officers, not to mention the possibility for rat infestations arising from raising chickens in an urban area.

“If you do support this, you’ll learn the full iceberg (of issues), because it is intense,” said the mayor.

Coun. Emily Chorley agreed with Henderson, noting she would not support Option 2 of allowing backyard chickens, but would be amenable to allowing an extension for the owner of the chickens to comply with town bylaws.

In addition to keeping the status quo on the town’s bylaw pertaining to backyard chickens, council did allow a 90-day extension of the town notice for the removal of the chickens.

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