THE credit crunch is introducing more people to the joys of poultry owning and the number of back garden hens in the region is on the up.

That’s according to Mick Straughan, who is responsible for the poultry section at Northumberland County Show, which benefited from a surge in entries this year.

Mr Straughan said: “Entries are up and we’ve had a large class of eggs. There were 106 entries, up by about 30, and it’s 60 up for the birds.

“It used to be that people got them for eggs. The public think of hens and they think of brown laying hens. Then they come in here and they see all the different ones.

“With the credit crunch, there are definitely more people. Food is going up in the shops and they think, ‘we’ll get six hens and keep them in the garden’. They know they’ll get the eggs.”

Mr Straughan, who is an engineer with BAe Systems in Birtley, said people from as far away as Bradford travelled to show poultry at this year’s show at Corbridge on Monday.

He believes events like the show are fundamental in boosting interest and knowledge about poultry keeping. BBC TV news presenter Lara Rostron started keeping hens after visiting the poultry section at last year’s show and presented the prizes to the winners on Bank Holiday Monday.

Mr Straughan said: “People just like to see what’s available.

“Rather than the ordinary laying hens for back gardens, they can see different varieties.