HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - A local advocacy group is asking the City of Huntsville to relax its rules for backyard chicken coops.

The Huntsville Hen Alliance says it has collected more than 250 signatures from "sustainability-minded" city residents who want to be able to raise hens at home. Chicken coops have technically been allowed inside the city limits since the 1970s, but the 150-foot setback requirement from the nearest house effectively bans them from most subdivisions.

Sam Caraway, the hen alliance's director, said Nashville, Atlanta and many other U.S. cities have recently changed their laws to allow chicken coops with an average setback of just 30-50 feet.

"This is resonating with people all over the country," Caraway said Tuesday. "Huntsville has an opportunity to be the first city in Alabama with a progressive hen ordinance. And it's hens we're talking about - not noisy roosters."

Caraway, who lives near Merrimack Mill Village in southwest Huntsville, said he and several other members of the hen alliance are currently barred from raising the birds because their yards are not wide enough.

Group members have many reasons for wanting hens: organic eggs; free fertilizer for home gardens; teaching their children where food comes from. "There's a renaissance going on," said Caraway, "with people trying to eat local and having less impact on the environment."

His group does not advocate raising hens for slaughter.

You can sign the chicken-coop petition at C.T. Garvin Feed & Seed, 2215 Holmes Ave.; Ayers Farm Family Market, 2015 S. Memorial Pkwy.; Pearly Gates Natural Foods, 2308 S. Memorial Pkwy.; and The Dream Maker, 4004 Triana Blvd. Click here to sign the on-line petition.

Caraway said Huntsville Hen Alliance members plan to make a presentation at an upcoming City Council meeting. "Right now, we're just trying to demonstrate (through the petition) that there's an interest out there."