Published: Friday, 10th July, 2009 9:00am

Fowl play suspected in chicken theft

Never keep your eggs in one basket - well, for one local pet owner it"s more a case of never keep your chickens in one coop.

Jane Gaston awoke last Friday morning to find sly-as-a-fox thieves had made off with not just her prized pet chickens but their coop, feeder and electric fencing kit too!

And all the hospital nurse now has left to remember Harriet, Hannah and Hettie by is one huge egg.

The 50 year old had constructed the chicken coop at her West Linton home only the previous day, after taking delivery of £600 worth of equipment from the internet.

She said: 'This is both bizarre and distressing. I really couldn"t believe it when I saw everything gone like that.

'I wouldn"t care if they had left the hens and just taken the rest of the gear.

'Whoever"s done this more than likely spotted me putting the coop and fencing up on the Thursday. This is a pretty remote spot so it"s hardly opportunist thieves.

'The reason I got the electric fencing was to keep foxes and weasels out; it never entered my head that weasels of a different kind would take them.

'They were terribly tame birds, not scared of humans at all, and made great pets. All I have left is one massive egg that I kept because of its size. It just shows that people would steal anything these days.'

A police spokeswoman said: 'This is a most unusual theft and we are at present carrying out inquiries into this incident.

'Police would like to ask members of the public to ensure that their allotments or smallholdings are secure when left unattended and to take steps to prevent their livestock and property from being an easy target for criminals.

'We would urge anyone with any information relating to this to contact their local police station or Crimestoppers.'