Chicken Out

The Chicken Out Campaign is led by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and seeks your support to end intensive poultry farming in the UK once and for all. Launched in Axminster - River Cottage country, Hugh and his campaign team urged local people to reject factory farmed chicken and buy free range instead. The response was inspiring and the campaign is now on a national level. In 2008, Channel Four will launch a new TV series, Hugh's Chicken Run, highlighting the plight of the chicken and the deplorable conditions under which they are intensively farmed.

If enough people make the effort to protest, Hugh and his team at Chicken Out! might be able to change the lives of the humble chicken for the better. Firstly, visitors need to leave their names on the site supporting this worthwhile cause. Secondly, read about the miserable lives that 850 million broiler chickens lead in the UK that are slaughtered every year. And most importantly boycott cheap chicken in the supermarket and buy free range or organic. Yes it might be more expensive but at least it tastes of something.

Here are a few facts to make your skin crawl. A standard chicken from newly hatched to oven ready is alive for just 39 days. In the good old days, it used to be 84 days and Hugh's campaign is fighting for them to live for a minimum of 56 days. A chicken shed holds 40000 birds; they have only one hour of darkness a day and no access to grazing outside. Their living space is smaller than an A4 piece of paper.

Chicken Out! wants chickens to have access to the outdoors and fresh air, with more living space with straw to perch on in their huts. All this will ensure that the birds will in the end have a better nutritional profile, with less bad fat and more Omega 3 fatty acids. Download a campaign flyer to spread the word.

Put pressure on the poultry farming industry and sign up to the Chicken Out! campaign and tell your friends. It's been done before, if there is enough support, you really can make a difference.