Charity workers said they are devastated after the mass theft of 65 chickens used to raise much-needed funds.

Children discovered 32 chickens had been stolen from the Lambourne End Centre in Manor Road, Lambourne, last Sunday, just one week after 33 others had been taken.

The chickens, which cost the charity £650 to purchase, were used to sell eggs in the Lambourne End farm shop to raise weekly funds for helping young people develop life skills.

Youngs people were left in charge of collecting, cleaning, counting and labelling the eggs for the shop.

Students who attend the centre have set up a fundraising page to help raise money to buy new chickens, which has already received more than £250 in donations. 

Charity worker Claire Gilmore said: “Our students found the empty chicken pens with the padlocks ripped off.

“As a charity we can't afford to have our laying chickens stolen.

“The students have come up with a great idea to write to our users, groups and the community to ask for a donation.

“Over the past couple of months we have been selling around 30 boxes of eggs every week, and now we can barely offer 10 boxes.

“We're all devastated.”

You can check the charity’s progress or donate to them, here.