Feathers are being ruffled in the intense chicken farming industry following a celebrity chef-led campaign.

And former poultry processing farmers in Harecroft believe tonight's Channel 4 programme "Jamie's Fowl Dinners", featuring Jamie Oliver, will result in crunch time for the industry.

Sickening images of intensively farmed chickens, which are crammed in to huts 17 per square foot and never see daylight, have been saturating our TV screens.

The "Chicken Out!" campaign to rid the supermarket shelves of intensively farmed birds has been launched by celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall.

During his "Hugh's Chicken Run" series this week he reduced shoppers to tears as they watched in horror as hundreds of chickens were fed around the clock to be ready for slaughter in just 39 days.

His campaign brought such huge support that by the end of filming, 60 per cent of birds being sold in his home town of Axminster were free-range.

Helen and Malcolm Barker, of Haven Farm in Harecroft, near Bingley, have diversified from poultry processing, which had been their main income since the days of Malcolm's grandfather in the 1930s.

A year after making the switch, the couple now rear free-range pork and lamb and are set to introduce Jersey cows to produce un-pasteurised milk.

Their decision to move away from producing battery chickens was down to competition in the industry and not animal cruelty.

Mrs Barker said: "We have been watching the programmes with interest and will be watching Jamie Oliver tonight. I am glad I am now in the free-range industry; I recently had to bring five sows indoors because of the weather, and I hated it because they were cramped.

"I felt a bit guilty watching it. For people who can afford it, free range is a better product. I think tonight's programme will be the crunch point. Malcolm asked me if I felt upset watching the programmes but I said "no" as I hadn't been directly involved with the farming, but I would have been if I had been more involved. It is in Malcolm's blood, but I think he is glad he doesn't have to do it anymore.

"When I watched Hugh's programme I thought the single mother had a point when she said the battery chickens were all she could afford. At the end of the day farmers have to make a living, it is a vicious circle."

One chicken factory which continues to cause concern for residents is the four-acre HCF Poultry Ltd site in Cullingworth.

Bingley Rural ward Councillor Simon Cooke (Con), who lives in the village, said residents had been complaining about the smell, spillages and HGVs blocking access for years.

He said: "The battery farming chicken factory in Cullingworth is horrible. It has been there a long time, over 30 years. It is a fairly topical issue at the moment. I think it used to be more beneficial to the village than it is now.

"I would agree everybody should go free range, it is not that much more expensive."

The manager of the HCF Poultry Michael Costello was unavailable for comment.

"Jamie's Fowl Dinners" is being aired tonight at 9pm and the celebrity chef will demonstrate how chickens and eggs are produced.

It comes as a European Commission report has said the ban on keeping laying hens in tiny cages should come into effect in 2012 as planned, despite calls from farmers for more time to prepare.