Government is using marksmen to kill chickens which are destroying gardens and farms across the Island.

And other measures including contraceptive feed and a cannon which fires out a large net are being considered to curb the feral chicken population which is in its thousands.

Environment Permanent Secretary Brian Rowlinson said: "It's very serious, farmers suffer badly."

He said trapping had not worked because "do-gooders" tinkered with them and fed the chickens, a point echoed by farmers who spoke to The Royal Gazette.

Director of Environmental Protection, Dr. Tom Sleeter said armed men had been sent to Richard Bascome's Somerset farm where chickens plunder feed troughs.

"It was not as successful as we wished for," said Dr. Sleeter.

He said five shooters were trained and licensed by Police to go out with pellet and shot guns.

But because they went on a voluntary basis and the light was bad outside of office hours it was difficult to arrange, said Dr. Sleeter.

Government vet Dr. Jonathan Nisbett said: "It's very labour intensive and the noise scares the chickens away."

He said shooting had been dropped years ago after near misses involving people and animals.

He said: "We are considering a net gun which fires out a net and gets dozens of chickens at a time."

He admitted it was somewhat cartoonish and said there were problems with the method because the net might hit overhead power and clothes lines.

Dr. Sleeter said the advantage of the cannon was it could catch a large number of birds very quickly when they were grouped together.

"It's used in other countries. Then you have to dispose of them in some manner," he said.

"We have a large number of complaints from the community about chickens. They disturb the peace and are also very destructive to gardens and crops."

He said a committee was looking at how to curb chickens.

Dr. Nisbett said poisons and contraceptive feed could be eaten by other animals which were not a problem.

He said: "I am not particularly excited by either one of these options, especially poisons.

"And with the contraceptive you have to keep up with it. Is it solving the problem or delaying further action?"

Farmer Frank Machado is counting the cost after chickens ate around 15 percent of a new broccoli crop.

He said: "They pick off the leaves and just leave the stalks. They ate about 20 rows out of 150 rows. They will eat broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce and cabbage. All the farmers have a problem. They will even scratch out potatoes."

Mr. Machado has lost crops at Daniel's Head and in Paget.

"Right now the only thing we can do is use traps. It's a long process. It's not like the old days when you could pay to have them shot."

His neighbour dairy farmer Richard Bascome said chickens attacked grain silos meant for his cows.

He said: "Chickens get right in the trough and the calves are afraid to feed. But when they go back there is nothing there."

He said farm workers now had to stand watch when calves were fed.

"I have tried everything short of shooting them," Mr. Bascome said.

"They pollute the grain with their faeces and eat a tremendous amount of grain. They cause diseases and a whole lot of trouble.

"By eating grain from a lot of different farms they are well fed, produce more eggs, which makes more chickens which makes more trouble.

"There are no predators around here which creates a worse problem. We need to get rid of them.

"The traps aren't working because the do-gooders feed the chickens so they don't go in the traps. The do-gooders think that because the chickens look good they can go about feeding them."

Dr. Maureen Ware-Cieters said she owned chickens but was able to manage them without losing her garden, just as farmers years ago had arable crops next to chickens without having a problem.

Roosters could easily be rounded up at night because they always nested in the same place and became docile said Dr. Ware-Cieters. "They are almost paralysed at night.

"The rooster can be culled or neutered. We are too impatient these days. Agriculture workers work nine to five now and don't plan activities around the animals."

She said farmers needed to build six foot high fences around crops because chickens could not fly that high.

Some people got a lot of pleasure from chickens which were useful as well a good food source, said Dr. Ware-Cieters.

"They clean up rotting junk and are great at eating roaches and small rodents. They are quite aggressive. If you have seen on take out a small rat, the rat hasn't got a chance."