Brittany Perry wants to live a more environmentally healthy life.

The 25-year-old lifelong Austin resident has looked into many solutions, from locally sourced food to couponing, to save a few dollars and live a little more healthy.

To that end, she’s on a mission to convince the Austin City Council to let people raise chickens within the city limits.

“I have a passion for sustainable living,” she said.

Perry has garnered support from dozens of Austin residents on her Facebook group, Austin Backyard Chickens. She is researching similar ordinances in other cities as well. Her suggestions include allowing residents to raise three to six hens — roosters can be too loud, according to Perry — and to enact precautions against predators and possible animal escapes. Though she wants to raise chickens for the eggs, she also hopes the city would allow residents to humanely butcher chickens they raise within a proposed ordinance.

“I wanted to make sure that it was something that was good for the community that made sense,” she said.

Perry appears to have several council members willing to discuss the issue, including Judy Enright, who brought the issue to the council’s attention at its May 5 work session. Enright told council members she had heard similar requests from other residents over the years.

“I don’t know enough about chickens to make a decision one way or the other,” she said Wednesday morning.

Yet Enright has followed Perry’s online efforts and shared the various ordinances, reports and information Perry has found with community members and with city staff. Enright hopes Perry’s efforts will cause a discussion among community members and give the council more feedback.

“She’s trying to get the word out on both sides of the fence,” Enright said of Perry’s efforts.

Enright encourages residents to do more research on raising chickens before the council takes up the issue

Yet the issue could become complicated as city officials try to craft a potential ordinance. Though he is unable to vote on the issue, Mayor Tom Stiehm said a chicken ordinance could bring up complaints among neighbors and prove difficult to enforce.

“I don’t know why anybody would want to have chickens in the city,” he said.

Stiehm said he’s willing to learn more about the issue and keep an open mind, however.

In recent years, many Minnesota cities have adopted chicken ordinances, though some cities have struggled with the issue. The city of Farmington grappled with a potential chicken ordinance after the Farmington City Council voted the issue down in 2011. The decision drew controversy for two years before the city adopted a permit system in March of 2013 to allow residents to raise up to three hens.

Perry is aware critics may protest a chicken ordinance, but she believes a well-crafted ordinance and responsible owners would work in Austin.

“A lot of it is just a lack of education [on the issue],” she said.