conventional - absolutely horrific - stuck in cage
“cage free” - regular horrific - able to walk around, but they’re packed wall-to-wall
“free range” - substandard - can go outside and walk around, but still usually overcrowded
The best option is to raise them yourself. But almost nobody does that, so I guess you pick how much you want to spend for the chicken to have a better life.
“Go outside” for free-range is also a tiny little pen that chickens don’t really know how to use.
There’s another option: Pasture-raised, certified humane. They have >100SF of outdoor space per bird, shelter, and eat a mix of insects and supplemental feed.
Aldi sells them for about 75% more than conventional eggs.
This is obviously something you saw on Reddit and didn’t bother fact checking.
If you buy from any producer of chicken, there is no such thing as cage free. All the chickens get transported to the slaughterhouse in cages. That being said, conventional chickens are not stuck in cages. Maybe some mom and pop shops do this? Not the major producers, the sheer amount of cages needed would be profit prohibitive. They’re raised in a chicken house but they are packed in side by side.
USDA defines free range as 2sqft per chicken. A chicken is give or take 30x smaller than a human so equivalent is if you grew up with a 60sqft personal bubble. Pasture raised is 108aqft per chicken, but the thing to remember is chickens are a family pack animal, so even if they have all the space in the world they won’t use it. They’ll stay near their home.
Also the species of chicken has a significant impact on quality of life and taste. I don’t know if there is any actual data but modern broilers cannot live long just due to their genetic breed. They’re a generic breed that grows super fast and has health issues as they age.
Chickens don’t live a great live in any production arena, but the worst is the transport and the slaughter which doesn’t change regardless of their free range designation. If it’s really something that bothers you, the only real solution is just to stop eating chicken products.
Broilers aren’t kept in cages generally, but if you don’t keep layers in cages then it’s a lot more labor to collect the eggs and make sure they don’t just eat them or break them. So the lowest quality eggs will come from chickens that live in cages stacked several rows high, with an incline in the bottom of each cage, so that when they lay the egg will roll onto a sort of conveyer belt that moves the eggs over to be packaged.
Source: my rural ass high school had ag classes and we went to some of these places. I guess it’s possible this has changed in the past 20ish years, but from what I know it hasn’t changed that much. If you didn’t grow up down wind of some of these places, consider yourself lucky.
All the chickens get transported to the slaughterhouse in cages
Ok, but that’s not what cage-free means, cage-free means they don’t live in a cage. How they’re transported was never part of it. I’m guessing “free range” chickens are transported in cages as well, because that’s a lot easier.
equivalent is if you grew up with a 60sqft personal bubble
That doesn’t make sense, humans stand upright, chickens are more long. I’m guessing the size comparison you’re talking about is total size, not size on the horizontal plane. A chicken is something like a foot long and a half foot wide, or something like 1.5sq ft. That meas there’s half their body length in space not filled by another chicken in a 2sq ft area. That’s not a lot of room.
chickens are a family pack animal, so even if they have all the space in the world they won’t use it
Chickens are foragers, so yes, they’ll absolutely use the space provided. I have friends who raise chickens, and live in an area where raising chickens is common, so I know what chickens do. If I ever forget, I can walk down the street and watch chickens for a half hour and see what they do. They don’t clump together, they spread out to forage for bugs and whatnot, and they only pack together when they go back to the coop to sleep, or if they are in danger (there is safety in numbers).
But yes, chickens are quite dumb.
modern broilers cannot live long just due to their genetic breed
Well yeah, they’re genetically selected to have maximum meat because that’s the most efficient way to farm chickens.
Likewise for egg-laying chickens, they’re selected for volume and consistency of egg output. Some breeds make brown eggs, some make white eggs, and those are sold to different markets (usually brown eggs are sold at a premium here because people think they’re better in some way; they aren’t).
The two types of chickens (eggs and meat) are generally not the same, and my understanding is that egg-laying chickens are discarded rather than sold once they stop laying. I could be wrong (maybe they’re used for chicken nuggets and other processed chicken products), but they’re definitely not used for the cuts sold at stores because their meat is too tough.
If it’s really something that bothers you
It’s really not, I’m merely pointing out what the terms mean. I buy whatever is cheapest at Costco (currently cage-free is the lowest tier), and if I cared about the welfare of the chickens, I’d raise my own (and their eggs taste better anyway).
Eh, there’s also substandard:
The best option is to raise them yourself. But almost nobody does that, so I guess you pick how much you want to spend for the chicken to have a better life.
Or just skip eggs
“Go outside” for free-range is also a tiny little pen that chickens don’t really know how to use.
There’s another option: Pasture-raised, certified humane. They have >100SF of outdoor space per bird, shelter, and eat a mix of insects and supplemental feed.
Aldi sells them for about 75% more than conventional eggs.
Some farms even have mobile barns on wheels that go around the field to have the chickens graze on fresh grass.
For more about Certified Humane and Pasture Raised:
https://certifiedhumane.org/wp-content/uploads/Standard_LayingHens-2023.pdf
Page 18 (19 in PDF land)
This is obviously something you saw on Reddit and didn’t bother fact checking.
If you buy from any producer of chicken, there is no such thing as cage free. All the chickens get transported to the slaughterhouse in cages. That being said, conventional chickens are not stuck in cages. Maybe some mom and pop shops do this? Not the major producers, the sheer amount of cages needed would be profit prohibitive. They’re raised in a chicken house but they are packed in side by side. USDA defines free range as 2sqft per chicken. A chicken is give or take 30x smaller than a human so equivalent is if you grew up with a 60sqft personal bubble. Pasture raised is 108aqft per chicken, but the thing to remember is chickens are a family pack animal, so even if they have all the space in the world they won’t use it. They’ll stay near their home.
Chickens are essentially a brainless animal and their body can continue to function without a head. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_the_Headless_Chicken
Also the species of chicken has a significant impact on quality of life and taste. I don’t know if there is any actual data but modern broilers cannot live long just due to their genetic breed. They’re a generic breed that grows super fast and has health issues as they age.
Chickens don’t live a great live in any production arena, but the worst is the transport and the slaughter which doesn’t change regardless of their free range designation. If it’s really something that bothers you, the only real solution is just to stop eating chicken products.
Broilers aren’t kept in cages generally, but if you don’t keep layers in cages then it’s a lot more labor to collect the eggs and make sure they don’t just eat them or break them. So the lowest quality eggs will come from chickens that live in cages stacked several rows high, with an incline in the bottom of each cage, so that when they lay the egg will roll onto a sort of conveyer belt that moves the eggs over to be packaged.
Source: my rural ass high school had ag classes and we went to some of these places. I guess it’s possible this has changed in the past 20ish years, but from what I know it hasn’t changed that much. If you didn’t grow up down wind of some of these places, consider yourself lucky.
Ok, but that’s not what cage-free means, cage-free means they don’t live in a cage. How they’re transported was never part of it. I’m guessing “free range” chickens are transported in cages as well, because that’s a lot easier.
Idk, this looks like a cage to me.
That doesn’t make sense, humans stand upright, chickens are more long. I’m guessing the size comparison you’re talking about is total size, not size on the horizontal plane. A chicken is something like a foot long and a half foot wide, or something like 1.5sq ft. That meas there’s half their body length in space not filled by another chicken in a 2sq ft area. That’s not a lot of room.
Chickens are foragers, so yes, they’ll absolutely use the space provided. I have friends who raise chickens, and live in an area where raising chickens is common, so I know what chickens do. If I ever forget, I can walk down the street and watch chickens for a half hour and see what they do. They don’t clump together, they spread out to forage for bugs and whatnot, and they only pack together when they go back to the coop to sleep, or if they are in danger (there is safety in numbers).
But yes, chickens are quite dumb.
Well yeah, they’re genetically selected to have maximum meat because that’s the most efficient way to farm chickens.
Likewise for egg-laying chickens, they’re selected for volume and consistency of egg output. Some breeds make brown eggs, some make white eggs, and those are sold to different markets (usually brown eggs are sold at a premium here because people think they’re better in some way; they aren’t).
The two types of chickens (eggs and meat) are generally not the same, and my understanding is that egg-laying chickens are discarded rather than sold once they stop laying. I could be wrong (maybe they’re used for chicken nuggets and other processed chicken products), but they’re definitely not used for the cuts sold at stores because their meat is too tough.
It’s really not, I’m merely pointing out what the terms mean. I buy whatever is cheapest at Costco (currently cage-free is the lowest tier), and if I cared about the welfare of the chickens, I’d raise my own (and their eggs taste better anyway).