Get the cluck out? Georgina brooding over backyard chickens

Chicken debate started in 2016, but still no council decision on backyard hens.

Yorkregion.com
Sept. 3, 2019
Amanda Persico

Why did the chicken cross the road? To get to East Gwillimbury or Newmarket, or anywhere else backyard hens are welcome.

Those waiting for the town to brood and allow backyard chickens will have to wait a little longer.

Recently, the town took another crack at the backyard hen conundrum, opting for a public consultation session to be held in the fall.

Following the public consultation process, a staff report is expected in the fall.

“There are a lot of eager residents,” Coun. Dave Neeson said at a recent council meeting, who considered building a backyard chicken coop about a decade ago.

The backyard hen battle goes back to 2016, he added.

Melody Bertolini, armed with a resident petition with close to 500 signatures in support of backyard chickens, lost her chicken coop in a bylaw battle.

Soon after losing that fight, Bertolini flew the coop and nested in Gravenhurst, where she now has more than a dozen hens.

“Shortly after I lost the battle, I had a bad taste in the mouth about the town and we began looking for a farm,” said the ice cream shop owner via Facebook Messenger chat.

Bertolini still receives messages from former Georgina neighbours clucking about chickens.