LONDON – KFC UK is experiencing a chicken shortage across the country with hundreds of stores closing and reopening throughout the week.

More than 800 of the 900 KFC locations in the UK were closed Feb. 19 with roughly 600 stores remaining closed during the lunchtime on Feb. 20 in Great Britain.

“We’ve brought a new delivery partner onboard, but they’ve had a couple of teething problems – getting fresh chicken out to 900 restaurants across the country is pretty complex,” KFC said on its website. “We won’t compromise on quality, so no deliveries has meant some of our restaurants are closed, and others are operating a limited menu, or shortened hours.”

The problem occurred over the weekend after the chain switched its delivery contract to DHL.

In a message posted on its UK Twitter account KFC said, "our teams are working round the cluck" to reopen all restaurants.

The KFC UK website continues to update the opening of its restaurants to the public.

The UK is KFC's largest market in Europe, and one of its top five globally.