For a few weeks last summer, I was an industrial chicken farmer. It was not a happy experience. Stepping into the dark, musty shed, the whack of ammonia was overwhelming. I always checked the stock with a knot in my stomach, hoping I wouldn’t find a dead bird. Or worse, an injured bird. Then you have to wring its neck. It’s a good day, and a rare day, that you’re not dropping a little feathered corpse into a bin.

I set up this experimental unit for a Channel 4 programme, Hugh’s Chicken Run, because it was difficult to find intensive farmers who would give us unfettered access in order to film. Raising intensive chickens went against my deepest instincts, but my hope was that these birds would be agents for change. That was in January, and since then I’ve been trying to persuade people to eat more free-range chickens – or at least upgrade to a higher welfare standard.

On Friday I took our campaign to the annual meeting of Tesco shareholders, even though the company charged me nearly £90,000 for the privilege. This is the story of how I got there over the past few months.

Thursday, March 6: It’s now two months since the end of Hugh’s Chicken Run, and we seem to have made a difference. Waitrose says sales of free-range chickens are up by 22% and organic is up by 39%.

Asda plans to stock 25% more free-range chicken by the end of May, and 50% more by the end of September. Somerfield says free-range sales are up by 50%, and sales of “higher welfare” fresh poultry are up by 40%.

So far, so good. But now it’s time to tackle Tesco again.

Friday, March 7: We eat a huge amount of chicken in this country. Around 16m birds a week are raised for slaughter. More than 90% of those birds are intensively farmed.

Anybody who is serious about changing the nation’s eating habits must deal at some point with Tesco, which sells more intensively farmed chicken than any other retailer.

I’ve been trying to get an interview with a Tesco director for six months now. They always say they’re keen to listen, but usually call off meetings at the last minute. So I wing off another e-mail requesting an interview with a heavy heart.

There is a new man, Tesco media director Jonathan Church. He seems more open to the idea of an interview. It’s just a matter of timing, he says. He promises to get back to us.

Friday, March 28: During my time as a reluctant chicken farmer, we raised 2,332 standard birds and 1,654 free-range birds next door in a matching shed. For the first week, you couldn’t tell the difference. But very quickly the standard chicks put on weight and become noticeably more sluggish.

When they were just under three weeks we opened the pop holes for the free-range birds, who quickly learnt to do what comes naturally to chickens – pecking grass, eating bugs and exploring. The birds next door were completely confined. It made a depressing contrast.

Welfare standards for intensive farming were tightened last year. But they still allow up to 50,000 birds to be kept in barns that are dimly lit to discourage movement and ensure weight is gained as quickly as possible. Most are slaughtered at 5-6 weeks. Free-range chickens must be allowed outside for at least half their lives and are grown more slowly, to be killed at around eight weeks.

Tesco have had three weeks to get back with a date. Nothing so far.

Friday, April 18: Six weeks, and still no date with Tesco. What is going on? Sains-bury, Waitrose and the Coop all spoke to us last year. Asda, Morrisons, Somerfield and Marks & Spencer all told us to get lost (in so many words). But Tesco won’t say yes, and they won’t say no. They just lead us on this strange dance.

Saturday, April 19: Have just totted up our contacts with Tesco.

E-mails to Tesco: 29 E-mails from Tesco: 21 Phone calls to Tesco: 15 Meetings with Tesco: 1 – off the record, way back in Aug 2007, when they told us they would review their poultry labelling. I asked them to consider upgrading their higher welfare Willow Farm chicken to the RSPCA Freedom Food system. Nine months later, neither of these things has happened.

We are already on our eighth Tesco representative. Any more and we’ll qualify for loyalty points on our Clubcard.

Friday, May 2: Still frustrated by our lack of progress with Tesco when suddenly it hits me. Surely they’d take me more seriously if I was a Tesco shareholder. Using an online share-dealing site, I buy one share in Tesco. It costs me £4.36.

Monday, May 5:Owning shares is more complicated than you might think. To table a resolution at the annual general meeting we need the support of 100 shareholders with a minimum of 200,000 shares between them. How do we get these shareholders on board? The obvious way is to deploy the 130,000 supporters we have registered with our campaign web-site, www.chickenout.tv.

Tuesday, May 6: To urge our supporters to buy Tesco shares, it seems I must be registered with the Financial Services Authority. As I am not registered, I cannot even suggest that people buy shares. Apparently this is a serious criminal offence that carries the risk of imprisonment. Am I quite ready to go to prison for the sake of Tesco chickens? I’m not sure, to be honest.

Wednesday, May 7: Congratulations to Cave & Sons of Northampton, official stockbroker to the Chicken Out campaign (www.caves.co.uk/chickenout.htm). It is true that they’re a small operation, but they’re obviously willing to take a risk – all the big City names turned us down.

Friday, May 9: We are struggling to get enough support for our resolution to be tabled at the annual general meeting, but we’re lobbying some of the main Tesco shareholders. To do this, we employ a method that has apparently proved very successful in the City – lunch.

Our first meeting is with a group of 12 asset management companies. They have trillions of dollars at their command and, more importantly, have a direct line to Tesco.

Unfortunately, they prove to be sceptical. They’re not satisfied that Tesco has had an adequate opportunity to respond (despite 29 e-mails, 15 phone calls, see above). They also feel a resolution is not the best way to effect change.

Still, they say they’ll think about it.

And they pay for lunch.

Later we have a conversation with one of Tesco’s top 30 shareholders, who also must remain nameless. They cannot promise to support our resolution, even if we manage to table it, but they will consider abstaining.

Thursday, May 15: It’s the day before we must submit our resolution. One of the team meets the finance board of a big church group. We think we’ve swayed them, but in the end they say no.

Friday, May 16: Tesco resolution has to be submitted today, and we still can’t find enough shareholder support. Everybody very gloomy, but then a letter arrives out of the blue. It’s from the Merseyside Pension Fund. They hold 3m shares, and they will support us. Pensioners of Liverpool, I am in your debt. We can now submit our resolution.

By 4pm, a courier is on its way to Tesco headquarters in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire, with the following resolution: It Is Resolved That: (a) conscious that the Company’s Animal Welfare Policy endorses the “Five Freedoms” concept proposed by the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), being: 1. Freedom from Hunger and Thirst 2. Freedom from Discomfort 3. Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease 4. Freedom to Express Normal Behaviour 5. Freedom from Fear and Distress; (b) acknowledging the study published in February 2008 by Knowles, TG, et al, and funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, entitled “Leg Disorders in Broiler Chickens: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Prevention” and noting that the Company’s order, stock and sale of standard intensive broiler chickens endorses and/or contributes to an average of 27.6% of birds having poor locomotion and 3.3% being almost unable to walk at an average age of 40 days, notwithstanding a culling process; the Company sets a commitment within a fair time-frame to take appropriate measures to ensure that chickens purchased for sale by the Company are produced in systems capable of providing the “Five Freedoms”.

Wednesday, May 21: Astonishing news. Letter from Tesco company secretary arrives asking for £86,888 to circulate the resolution and supporting statement to its 269,235 shareholders. Although we met the Friday deadline, the main documents had been sent out by Tesco on Tuesday. Baffling. Friday, May 23: Write back to suggest that the fee, which is discretionary under the Companies Act, be waived. Or at the very least reduced to account for the shareholders who have opted to receive documents by e-mail.

Thursday, May 29: Our parallel e-conversation with Tesco’s head of communications has finally borne fruit. Could it be our resolution has them rat-tled? We are invited to Tesco HQ for a meeting, and told we will be granted a filmed interview on camera. But it’s not clear yet who we will be allowed to talk to. But it won’t be Sir Terry Leahy, Tesco’s boss.

Monday, June 2: Tesco demands payment of the distribution bill, in full, by Friday. You can see now why this is a company that makes £2.846 billion a year.

We request a week’s extension in view of the amount and the short notice.

Thursday, June 5: Off to Tesco HQ in Cheshunt, Hertfordshire. We discuss poultry policy “off the record” with a senior manager with direct responsibility for the poultry sector. We urge him to let us film, but he declines. Instead we get an interview with Tesco’s “senior broadcaster”, Dharshini David.

There is one piece of good news. Tesco has decided to upgrade its Willow Farm birds to the RSPCA Freedom Food audit system. This means it’ll be using a slower-growing, more active breed, and the birds will get perches and objects to peck.

I have suggested that this standard should be the Tesco minimum (Willow Farm accounts for 8% of sales, way behind standard intensive at 75%). Will they consider it? In a word, no. We decide it’s full steam ahead with our resolution.

Friday, June 6: Tesco agrees, by e-mail, to delay the payment deadline until noon next Wednesday. Have decided to put in £30,000 of my own money. The rest will come from an online auction in association with Compassion in World Farming. I’m offering to cook a chicken dinner for six (organic, of course). The River Cottage gang is offering a fishing trip for 10. Keane, the band, has donated two gold discs.

Monday, June 9: We’re back in action! The online auction has raised £75,000. The chicken dinner alone went for £5,000. Another bidder paid double that for a meal at the River Cottage canteen. Tesco, here we come.

Tuesday, June 10: A meeting with PIRC, a consultancy that advises investors on corporate responsibility. This is the argument we put to them: Tesco says it meets the national farm assurance standards. We say those standards don’t meet the Five Freedoms – laid out in our resolution – that Tesco claims to endorse as part of its animal welfare policy.

Tesco says raising its lowest standard to the level of RSPCA’s Freedom Food would restrict customer choice. We say there would still be three different levels to choose from.

Tesco says a Freedom Food chicken would be too expensive – an extra £1 per chicken on average. But Somerfield sells a Freedom Food bird for just 20p more than a Tesco standard chicken.

The people at PIRC say they will think about it.

Monday, June 16: The PIRC people say they’ve thought about it and will be supporting us. Outstanding!

Tuesday, June 24: A newspaper headline suggests that this isn’t the best time to be asking people to pay more for their chicken. It reads: “Record cost of feeding your family”.

According to the Office for National Statistics, food prices are rising at their fastest pace since records began. The average family is paying an extra £1,000 a year for their food. The price of a chicken alone has risen by 23% in a year.

Customers are switching to the cheapest foodlines because money is short. A supermarket food price war is looming. So why am I asking people to ignore those tempting bargains that offer two chickens for a fiver?

I sympathise with those on a low budget, but there are millions more who could easily afford free range. As a nation we have somehow decided that food is a really good area to save money. Other cultures don’t do this. We spend a smaller percentage of our household income on food than any country in Europe.

During Hugh’s Chicken Run, I recruited help from the residents of working families on an estate in Axminster, the nearest town to River Cottage. Together we cleared some ground and installed some free-range chickens.

All but one of those people have given up buying intensive chickens, and now choose free range. Hayley, a single mother, was the only one I couldn’t convince. She told me: “I can see the difference between the free-range and the indoor birds. But I can afford one, and I can’t afford the other.”

I’ve not given up, though. She has agreed to join me on a visit to an intensive chicken farm, and an RSPCA Freedom Food farm.

Thursday, June 26: Aegon, another top 30 shareholder (0.93%) confirms it will abstain. Today the Tesco share price is down to £3.70. I have lost 66p. Friday, June 27: The big day. To the National Motorcycle Museum in Solihull, venue for the AGM. We shared a hotel with Tesco people last night, but there wasn’t much partying in the bar.

At a preAGM meeting, I make a last-minute appeal to shareholders. Every vote counts. Then I make my way to the AGM itself, about 400 people in what looks like a hotel ballroom.

I get to speak – as do a number of others who want to discuss poultry. I feel I have strong support in the room, although one gentlemen says he wishes Tesco could get on with the business of making the company money and that “pub-licity-seekers” like me should be banned from the AGM.

A couple of poultry farmers in the audience say they’d welcome higher standards. And why wouldn’t they? It means fewer dead birds, and generally better returns for their efforts. But another speaker from the floor says it’s not the company’s business to drive change: it’s up to customers and the government.

Resolution 17, which is ours, is the final business of the meeting. Technically, we lose. But we win the support of 9.88% of shares. When you include abstentions (who are shareholders clearly defying the company line) that rises to 19%. I reckon that’s great. Nearly a fifth of Tesco’s shareholders defying the board’s strict instructions to vote against us.

Tesco now cannot ignore this. The company did say today it would be happy to take part in a forum on poultry welfare. I’ll hold it to that. But we want it to go further: we want it to be a driving force in organising such a forum and in pushing through change.

At the press conference after the meeting, a reporter asks me: “Is this just a publicity stunt?”

I say this is a worthwhile campaign that needs publicity. The way we look after our livestock is the mark of a civilised society. All we’re asking is that chickens should be allowed to live as chickens are meant to live. Doing what chickens do. Free of pain.

Explore Food & Drink

• Gordon Ramsay

• Heston Blumenthal

• Recipes

• Wine

• Real Food

• Anjum Anand

• Eating Out

• Video Recipes

Times Recommends

• How to season a wok
• Chicago Rib Shack hits back at its critics
• Gordon Ramsay: Indian barbecue