A business man stepped in to save thousands of chickens after the water supply to a Perthshire poultry farm failed.

Over 45,000 thirsty chicks were left in danger when an airlock in the water storage system caused the supply to Colliston poultry farm near Milnathort to stop at the weekend.

As Scottish Water battled to solve the problem, Robert Wiseman Dairies stepped in to deliver 10,000 litres of water by tanker.

As the problem continued throughout the week, Wisemans have continued to deliver tankers of water to ensure the chicks are safe—at least for now.

A spokesman for Robert Wiseman Dairies said, “We’re very pleased to be able to help.

“Our tankers have been on hand all week and whilst they are normally used to carrying thousands of litres of milk all over Scotland, it was no problem to ship water for this purpose.”

The farm supplies chickens for Grampian Country Chickens, which has a processing plant at Coupar Angus.

A spokesman for Grampian Country Chickens confirmed there had been a problem but said the company have worked closely with Scottish Water throughout.

Atholl Duncan, head of corporate affairs at Scottish Water, said, “As soon as we were informed there was a problem with the farm’s supply, we began working with the farm manager to resolve the issue.

“It appears there was an airlock in the system which caused supply to the farm’s own storage to run low.

“This has now been fixed and the storage at the farm, which involves a complicated pump system from the public main, is in the process of being fully restored.”