Three chickens appear to have been stolen from a care home.

The former battery hens, which were part of a “dementia garden” built for elderly residents at Cherry Orchard Care Home, went missing from their fox-proof coop late on December 4.

Michelle di Bella, who manages the home in Richard Ryan Place, Dagenham, said: “It’s absolutely awful.”

Volunteer Lynn Taylor, who planned and fundraised for the garden, said: “It’s just devastating because there were a couple of residents who had started collecting the eggs.”