What does Free Range mean?
You really have to ask the producer. Does it mean about 1 1/2 square feet per bird? Does it mean indoor living with a window for sunlight, and at least 5 minutes of open door time whether or not any or all birds go out (and out to where and to what?)? To us, free range means more than all of that. Our chickens are brooded in a controlled environment for about 3 weeks. When their adult feathers have grown in (so they can better withstand the cool weather and rains that come every spring) they are moved to separate chicken houses…each with it’s own, spacious, outdoor yard. Here the chickens can run, scratch, dust themselves, bask in the sun or rest in the shade. The doors of the chicken houses are never closed so they can come and go as they please. In fact, they prefer being outside. We even give them fresh cut alfalfa for their salad greens.
Legally, it means almost nothing. It could mean that the hen has a few extra square inches of space in her cage, or that the door of the chicken shed is opened for five minutes or an hour a day, or that she can see out of a window (or at least there IS a window in the shed holding tens of thousands of chickens).
