April 15, 2024 - Update

City Council approved proposed amendments to Red Deer’s Chicken Bylaw, which include:

• removal of the cap on the total number of licenses in the city, which currently sits at 102 (based on the population) and has a waitlist of 140;
• increased fee for Chicken Licences from $27 to $36.15 per licence; and
• addition of a schedule for fines and penalties to ensure the proper tools are in place to address nuisance concerns if needed, though there have been few complaints regarding urban chickens.

One licence is permitted per household and the limit of four hens per licence will remain in place.

In the absence of a holistic Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw, which would address dogs, cats, chickens and other types of animals, these immediate changes to the Chicken Bylaw will address public feedback and stakeholder consultation while offering community benefit with low operational impact. The Responsible Pet Ownership Bylaw implementation is paused until The City’s next budget approval process due to its financial implications.

Further updates are expected following 2025 Budget Deliberations, to occur late 2024.

A comprehensive multi-year Public Participation process occurred for this project from October 2020 to October 2022. Hundreds of residents provided their input about keeping animals in our city - everything from cats to bees to chickens - what works, what doesn't and what you want us to regulate going forward.

Residents told us their top three issues were:

• Cats roaming
• Dogs roaming off-leash
• Enforcement