Stray chickens on the rise amid urban farming trend

People who work at the Montreal SPCA have been caring for homeless cats and dogs for years, but now they're facing a new challenge chickens.

Raising chickens for fresh eggs is a growing trend in Montreal,but the localSociety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals says every week hens and roosters are being abandoned by owners unable to take care of them.

"People don't realize that chickens are sensitive, curious, smart animals that require extensive care," Alanna Devine, Director of Animal Advocacy at the Montreal SPCA told CBC's Daybreak Montreal. "Unfortunately, there is this trend of people thinking they can easily take on raising chickens in an urban environment."

Devine says people also don't realize that hens can live for up to ten years after they stop laying eggs, meaning a lengthy commitment from owners.

For the most part, it is illegal to keep chickens in the city. However, since 2011 there have been a few pilot projects in Montreal boroughs.

Chickens on the street

Devine says there has been an increase in stray chickens picked up from the street over the past six to eight months, with a new chicken or rooster arriving at the Montreal shelter "every single week."

Afterthecity heldpublic consultations last summer, areport came outin support ofurban agriculture butwith concernsabout raising chickens and small animals.

Devine says she believes legalizing chicken raising across the city would mean more strays at the SPCA. She says people willing to put effort into raising chickens should insteaduse that energy to research where they can buy eggs from organic chicken farmsor not eat eggs at all.

"I think it's a great idea for people to move away from industrialized agriculture. We don't want to condone people getting eggs from the grocery store from chickens that are confined in horrific conditions for their entire lives," she says.

Catherine Huard is the co-owner of Plumes et Jardins in Laval, a company that hold workshops on how to raise chickens.

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She says ifpeople are unable to look after chickens, theyshould not buy them in the first place.

"I think it's really deplorable," says Huard. "It's really not a good idea for people to just abandon their animals, whether it be a chicken, a cat or adog."

However, she says that banning chickens in the city may be part of what is causing them to be abandoned.

"If it were legal, there would be less problems. [People] tend to take the animals and then if they're afraid, one of the options is to abandon them."