A new piece, 29 Feet Per Square Meter, 39 x 39 inches, twigs, wire, red tape. 14 chickens per square meter inside a ventilated shed is considered free range in Australia. The USDA only requires that the animal has access to the outdoors for an undetermined amount of time each day. That means a coop could contain 10 to thousands of chickens inside with a door to the outside the size of a doggy door that is only open for 5 minutes a day with most of the animals unaware the door is even there or open. Free range is not always so free.
You can call the egg company you purchase your animal products from to find out the conditions of the animals. You can get to know a farmer at a farmers market and ask her/him what the conditions are. Maybe even visit the farm.
