Staff at Deen City Farm have hatched a plan to ensure they produce enough chicks - they buy the fertile eggs on eBay.

Lisa Allen, who manages the lands and livestock at the farm in Windsor Avenue, came up with the idea last year when the unseasonably cold weather meant their chickens were not mating or laying as many eggs as normal.

"We have to give 16 eggs to eight different schools three times a year, and I was worried we wouldn't have enough. Then a colleague told me you could get them on Ebay," Lisa said.

Last year, she bought 72 eggs on the auction website and distributed them to eight schools in the area.

They are then kept in a humid incubator at a temperature of 37 degrees celsius, and hatch after 21 days.

"The eggs come wrapped in bubble wrap and polystyrene so they can't move around. There's no danger on them hatching on the way because they need to be in the right conditions to produce a chick," she added.

The scheme was so successful that Lisa bought 24 eggs again this year.

She has opted for two new breeds - maran and cream legbar - which she hopes to keep at the farm.

"Cream legbar is good because you can tell the sex as soon as they hatch. The males are white, and the females have stripes on," she said.

Half the eggs hatched last week, and there are now about 12 new chicks enjoying their first days of life on the farm.