Top UK supermarkets are selling consumers chickens that have been reared in conditions that contravene government guidelines. According to media reports on a survey carried out for Compassion in World Farming, nearly all the major UK supermarkets are guilty of selling broiler chickens reared in space only the size of an A4 piece of paper, which is smaller than that set out in government guidelines. Gary Reece, from Compassion in World Farming, said: "That is almost the same as battery hens and is not acceptable."