Chickens stolen from allotment (From Richmond and Twickenham Times)

Chickens stolen from Kew allotment

6:00am Thursday 21st March 2013 in News By Amy Dyduch

A 22-year-old is devastated after her four chickens, one of which was hatched from an egg won at a raffle, were stolen from an allotment in Kew.

The four chickens, belonging to Sparkle Ward, were swiped from Townmead allotments after an intruder forced open the mesh side of their chicken run.

Her father Richard Ward, who is also the allotment rep, was looking after the chickens while his daughter is travelling in Australia and said they would lay two eggs a day.

He said: “One of them was hatched from an egg we got in a Rotary Club raffle.

“A mate of ours had auctioned the eggs and we asked if they would hatch and he said ‘yes’.

“We had a broody chicken and sat her on the egg and 21 days later it hatched in my daughter’s hands.”

Mr Ward discovered the brood of chickens, named Tikka, Molly, Cassy and Sanibel, were missing on Thursday morning, March 14, when he went to the allotment.

He found the wiring of the chicken run had been peeled away and there was no blood or feathers to suggest the chickens had been eaten by foxes.

He said: “We got rather attached to them because you have to go and visit them every other day or so.

“At night, chickens are rather dopey, they can’t see and they are very floppy so somebody can literally put them in a plastic bag.”

The theft was reported to the police, but Mr Ward said the family would not keep chickens again.

He said: “We shall grow vegetables there now where the chickens were.”