Story by Emma Kasprzak.
Poultry keepers are in a flap over a celebrity campaign which has left them forced to count their chickens after a spate of poultry pinching.
It is claimed that celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s promotion of free range chicken has spurred people into going on a chicken run to stock up on the birds for their own back garden.
Rob Benson, secretary for the Malpas Poultry Society in Whitchurch, believes incidents of chicken theft may be linked to the recent campaign.
Mr Benson, who has 200 chickens which he keeps as a hobby, said he has noticed more people buying eggs for hatching recently and that children in particular are getting more interested in keeping chickens.
Mr Benson said: “Two lots of friends have had their chickens stolen. The first who lives at Burleydam had chickens stolen on two occasions, although they took most of them the first time. Another in Whixall had 100 stolen.
“Since the Jamie Oliver campaign, chickens are the in thing and everyone wants them.”
A Channel4 spokesperson said: “While our recent food season was a brilliant success at getting the nation to look at their eating habits – and in particular free-range chickens – there is no evidence that this has caused the spate of chicken thefts, which we would not condone.”
Mr Benson, who shows and breeds birds, started selling eggs for hatching on eBay two years ago.
He said that the sale of eggs over the internet has taken off recently as more people choose to keep chickens at home.
Poultry keepers are in a flap over a celebrity campaign which has left them forced to count their chickens after a spate of poultry pinching.
It is claimed that celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s promotion of free range chicken has spurred people into going on a chicken run to stock up on the birds for their own back garden.
Rob Benson, secretary for the Malpas Poultry Society in Whitchurch, believes incidents of chicken theft may be linked to the recent campaign.
Mr Benson, who has 200 chickens which he keeps as a hobby, said he has noticed more people buying eggs for hatching recently and that children in particular are getting more interested in keeping chickens.
Mr Benson said: “Two lots of friends have had their chickens stolen. The first who lives at Burleydam had chickens stolen on two occasions, although they took most of them the first time. Another in Whixall had 100 stolen.
“Since the Jamie Oliver campaign, chickens are the in thing and everyone wants them.”
A Channel4 spokesperson said: “While our recent food season was a brilliant success at getting the nation to look at their eating habits – and in particular free-range chickens – there is no evidence that this has caused the spate of chicken thefts, which we would not condone.”
Mr Benson, who shows and breeds birds, started selling eggs for hatching on eBay two years ago.
He said that the sale of eggs over the internet has taken off recently as more people choose to keep chickens at home.
