Fresh start ahead for Guernsey egg farm

The new owners of Castel Farm Eggs said they were looking forward to the challenge

The new owners of Guernsey's only commercial egg farm said they were excited to get started and had "big plans" for the future of the business.

Castel Farm Eggs had been due to close in March under an order agreed in court, with thousands of birds set to be culled before James and Jess Rihoy agreed to buy the company.

Environmental Health said a fly infestation in the St Andrew and St Martin parishes was caused by excrement from birds at the farm.

The couple said they already had a plan in place to tackle the muck and fly issues of the past couple of years by installing an automatic scraper systems in the sheds to clean them on a daily basis.

Castel Farm currently has over 8,000 chickens

'Get stuck in'

Mrs Rihoy said: "It's been six months in the pipeline so it's really great to get our teeth into it now and get stuck in.

"We're really, really amazed by everybody's support and well wishes and just the public getting behind us, being local young people who want to do the island proud and that's what we want to do."

The couple have a dairy farming background and are already adapting to their new charges.

Mr Rihoy said: "The chickens are a lot more regimented with their feeding because it is all regulated so they're easier to manage than cows."

The farm produces about 8,000 eggs a day and the couple are hopeful by the end of the year they can double the production.

Mrs Rihoy added: "No birds were culled before we took ownership and by the end of April we have another 4,000 birds coming and the same again in August so in total we will have 16,000 birds."