Town of Oliver council wants more info, on duck smell, duck noise before making a new “fowl” decision.

Chickens are allowed in Oliver…..
Ducks are not

If a duck is not allowed – complaints arise…..

After a fairly brief chat today council told staff to bring more info to councillors before any final changes needed to a bylaw on animals, fowl or other things with four legs in Oliver.

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Request to Town of Oliver

To the members of council:

Thank you for hearing our family’s request to keep ducks in substitute of chickens for home egg production.

When we looked at the town bylaws we did not find any bylaw forbidding keeping domestic ducks for eggs and so we used the guidelines provided for keeping chickens for home egg production.

For a couple years we had been considering backyard egg production. We are a family of 6 and typically use 5-6 dozen or more eggs per month. During this year’s pandemic we have gone through grocery store restrictions with only 1 dozen available to purchase at a time or many times none available when they have run out. We decided that for food security for our family to start this year.

Why then did we choose ducks and not just go with chickens?

When researching backyard egg production we came across many articles about the benefits of ducks compared with chickens.

1.Duck eggs are larger.

2.The whites of duck eggs are more dense than chicken eggs and provide more lift in baked goods.

3.Ducks do not scratch or peck, when letting ducks out in your garden or yard they still eat bugs and pests but do not scratch up your garden or yard the way chickens do.

4.Many small duck breeds, such as our Cayuga, are quieter than chickens.

5. Duck poop is a cold compost, chicken poop is not;
meaning duck poop can be put directly onto our garden for fertilizer without harming the plants but chicken poop needs to be composted or rot for a season before it can be placed as fertilizer on a garden.

After considering all these benefits, and being that we live across the street from a farm with a very loud rooster and chickens, we decided that ducks would be a better fit for our family and hopefully more considerate to our neighbours.

We know that ‘noises’ can be offensive to some neighbours and with 4 children playing outside during the day and my husband’s late/middle of the night fire calls we realize we are not the quietest house on the block. However, we do our best to be considerate and know that our ducks are very quiet in their house at night and during most of the day and just get excited during feeding time and when I let them out into their pen at 8am in the morning.

Thank you again for taking the time to read and consider our request.

Graham Family, Meadows Drive.

Staff recommend that the request be denied. Council will consider Monday. ** Correction staff did not recommend in favour but is leaving the matter for the council members. My mistake.

Editor’s Note – Rob – 2 dozen please.