CELPIP Listening Part 6 Practice Test: Hens in the City

NARRATOR: In a growing number of Canadian cities, a new sound can be heard in backyards: the gentle clucking of hens. Most municipalities that allow backyard chickens explicitly prohibit roosters, yet the question of whether residents should keep a few hens at all has become a surprisingly heated issue at council meetings across the country.

NARRATOR: Proponents, such as urban farming advocate Lena Marchetti, contend that the benefits are considerable. A flock of three or four hens, she argues, supplies a family with fresh eggs, devours kitchen scraps that would otherwise end up in the landfill, and produces excellent fertilizer for vegetable gardens. Marchetti, who runs weekend workshops for first-time owners, also stresses the educational value. Even wary neighbours, she adds, are often won over by a carton of eggs left on the doorstep. Children who care for chickens, she says, learn responsibility and gain a far more realistic picture of where their food comes from. In her view, the fuss about noise is wildly exaggerated: a contented hen, she notes, is quieter than the average barking dog.

NARRATOR: Critics are less enthusiastic. Retired veterinarian Gordon Pryce, who sits on his city's animal welfare committee, worries that many owners underestimate the commitment. Chickens can live eight to ten years, yet they typically stop laying after three or four. Pryce reports that animal shelters, which are rarely equipped for poultry, are increasingly taking in abandoned hens once the eggs dry up. He also raises health concerns. Neglected coops attract rats and raccoons, and handling birds carries a small but genuine risk of salmonella, particularly for young children. Outbreaks of avian influenza, which periodically sweep through commercial farms, add a further complication. Pryce doesn't call for an outright ban, but insists that any bylaw should require permits, regular inspections and a mandatory training course.

NARRATOR: Interestingly, Marchetti doesn't object to every rule. She welcomes compulsory training, though she considers annual inspections an unnecessary burden on already stretched bylaw officers. Where the two genuinely part ways is on cost. Pryce, with some justification, notes that once you add up feed, building a coop and veterinary bills, homegrown eggs cost far more than store-bought ones. Marchetti counters that saving money was never the point.

NARRATOR: Backyard flocks are unlikely to transform the way Canadians eat. But the debate reveals a longing, among many city dwellers, to reconnect with the sources of their food, and a nagging question about whether good intentions, however sincere, are enough to keep a flock healthy for a decade.