Jamie opens the show

Jamie sets the scene to the guests and reveals that his gala dinner will be an extraordinary event that will challenge the way we think about the chicken and eggs we eat.

The guests sort the chicks

After presenting the guests with chicks on a salver, Jamie asks them to separate the pale, male chicks from the darker feathered female chicks.

Chicks in despatching chamber

Male chicks, of no value in egg or meat production, are killed. This is standard across all grades of chicken in egg and meat production. These chicks will be dispatched by being starved of oxygen. The dead birds will be sold to zoos to be fed to reptiles or birds of prey.

Tearful guests

Witnessing this process proves an emotional challenge for some guests

Jamie visits a battery hen plant

Jamie visits a battery hen plant to see first hand the conditions in which caged chickens used in egg production are kept. 20 million birds are kept in these plants laying on average an egg a day each. These eggs retail from as little as 12p each.

Chick on a conveyor belt

Jamie goes to find out how chickens are selected for intensive, organic and free-range farms. All chickens start their life in the same way. The chicks hatch in the same conditions, are sorted and then packed into crates and transported to their farms.

Chickens in a pen

Using live chickens Jamie shows his guests how densely packed chickens on an intensive farm are allowed to be. 90 birds are fitted into the space that the guest estimated should suit 30 birds. Under EU proposals this figure could rise to 100 birds.

Inside an intensive chicken farm

Jamie visits a farm where chicken are raised intensively. These standard meat chickens grow so fast that their soft, immature bones can become deformed and they can find it hard, and sometimes painful, to walk. The crowded conditions in which they live can make their leg problems even worse. And then when they sit on the floor, the ammonia from their waste can create hock burns on the chicken’s legs

Inside a Freedom Food shed

Inside a Freedom Food shed

The RSPCA approved Freedom Food farms specify a lower stocking density for birds in sheds, giving the chickens more space to move around, and a slower-growing breed of chicken. Birds are still kept insides but in shed that are better lit. They also have places to perch and toys to help them express their natural curiosity. Find Freedom Food chicken at your supermarket

Morrisons -Wye Valley Waitrose -Select Farm Tesco- Willow Farm Sainsbury- Corn-fed Somerfield -So Good Co-op- Elmwood

On the free range farm

On free-range farms like this one, chickens are able to roam outdoors. They are shut up in sheds at night for their protection.

End of a chicken’s life

Jamie demonstrates a humane way of slaughtering chicken

Setting the chickens free

All of the battery chickens used in the programme are rescued from slaughter and set free to roam in Jamie's garden.