Dozens of activists shut down a supermarket's entrance and squeezed into the lobby to highlight how chickens are raised in overcrowded sheds.

Around 60 activists from Open Cages carried out an in-store protest at the Morrisons supermarket in Wood Green on Saturday (March 25).

They claim that the supermarket chain's chickens are raised in overcrowded sheds with less than an A4 sheet of space each in their final weeks of life.

Animal protection charities including Open Cages, the RSPCA, Compassion In World Farming and The Humane League UK want Morrisons to sign the Better Chicken Commitment (BCC).

READ MORE: One rescued after blaze in third-floor Tottenham flat

To adhere to the BCC, a company must commit to switch 100 per cent of its chicken supply to higher standards.

Morrisons’ animal welfare policy permits chickens to be kept in conditions of up to 19 birds per square metre.

The RSPCA says a lack of space for chickens can lead to higher rates of death, skin infections, heat stress and ammonia burns from the birds laying in their own waste. 

Connor Jackson, co-founder of Open Cages, said: “The idea of this action is to illustrate how chickens live before arriving on a Morrisons shelf."

He accused Morrisons of "secretly profiting from some of the most ruthlessly intensive chicken farming practices available".

"We feel forced to take drastic measures in order to warn consumers about what they’re really buying," he added.

"In these factories, there are on average about nineteen chickens per square metre: for a human being, this is equivalent to spending your life in a crowded subway train.

"Morrisons must stop ignoring the cruelty in its supply chain and sign the Better Chicken Commitment.”

A Morrisons spokesperson said: "We care deeply about animal welfare. All our regular chicken is raised to above Red Tractor standards; we are also the only retailer in Europe to ask our fresh chicken suppliers to require chicken to be born into the barn in which it will be raised by 2025.

"80pc of our fresh chicken meets this standard already.

"We also actively monitor for any malpractice in our supply chain; we will never tolerate it or look the other way and if we ever find it, we will act swiftly and decisively."