My chickens have always been "Free Range". Most homesteaders knew many years ago that a chicken that gets to scratch in the dirt, chase and eat insects, and graze on the weeds and grasses, were happier and healthier. That meant the eggs were more healthy for you too. I find the current fixation with free range chickens highly amusing. I haven't bought any eggs from a grocery store in years.
There are many in this world who think eggs from the store are cleaner and better for you, plus they have no consistency or flavor so they must be nice and sterile.

The article, nor any of the previous comments, touch on what I think the real issue is when raising a home flock of "free range" or "pastured" chickens for eggs. I think the issue should be CAN you raise chickens (for eggs) on nothing but pasture, i.e. without any supplemental feed.

I say no, at least not without sacrificing egg production, and at least with most breeds. You still have to provide some balanced ration and therein lies the problem unless you have access to reasonably priced organic feed.

Yes, the hens will still get lots of bugs and greenery from pasture, but I still consider the resulting eggs to be less than perfect if non-organic layer mash is provided.

legally, free range can mean that(as someone above mentioned) the doors on a 20,000 chicken house are opened, young chickens can go out if they wish. Or a bale of hay is grass or pasture. And there's more.

Big corporations found there was money in labeling their produce as "free range". Corporate approaches to alternative and organic agriculture have devalued the meaning of words like "free range", "organic", "pasture raised", etc.

Technically, 'free range' is a pipe dream ---unless you're raising only 30 or less chickens. If you are raising more than about 30 chickens, free range is not practical.

Managed Intensive Grazing is raising chickens on pasture in such a way that they are on fresh pasture every day using chicken tractors or the mobile pens Joel Salatin pioneered, plus some other ways.

At the moment, I have 2 mobile pens with 100 13 week old Barred Rocks and 1 mobile pen with 20 Broad Breasted Bronze turkeys. We'll slaughter in a week or two. I move the pens twice daily, and the chickens graze down the grass, clover and other plants This provides better pasture than even real 'free range' can provide.

Google APPPA (American Pastured Poultry Association) to find our more about Pastured Poultry. They have a newsletter.

check out www.eatwild./com, a web site by Jo Robinson who wrote a book "Grassfed is Best" and she has the contact information and a brief description for those who want to buy pasture raised meat from producers in their area. If you're a producer, it's a great listing.

I think that "pastured chickens" means what "free range" should mean. Free range should mean that chickens have access to pasture and are able to forage. It doesn't mean that, of course. But I think pastured is the word people should be looking for if they want the healthiest eggs.

My chickens are only about 3 months old. For the past two weeks they have been ranging during the day. Before that, they were in a movable coop. They got used to that, so they know to go in it at night. We have 20 more chicks that are all supposed to be pullets, so we are planning on building a big coop, but it will be for nighttime. We might build a run for winter time, just so they can come out but also be protected since there won't be much cover in the winter. I do worry about predators because we do have skunks, raccoons, opossums, hawks, eagles, coyotes, and probably a few others I'm forgetting.

I'm sure their eggs will be delicious and I can't wait to try them.

We raise our Broiler chickens in a "chicken tractor"...a 4' by 8' frame of 2x4's on edge, open to grass and dirt on the bottom, old wagon wheels on the 4 corners, and a domed roof made of 10' long PVC pipe which bends easily and forms a graceful arch. A plastic tarp over 1/2 of the space offers shelter from rain and hot sun. The feeder hangs from the wire, and waterer can be lifted out for easy moving...we move the whole contraption, with 14 birds, 1-3 times in 24 hours. Droppings fertilize the ground, have very little smell, birds have sun, fresh air and exercise, supplement their feed with greens, worms and bugs, and do not harm the garden by scratching or pecking.

Last year was our first "tractor year", and the birds were fabulous, dressed out at 5.5 to 7.5 pounds each, at 8 weeks old.

Barbara, sorry to hear about your loss. Racoons are a real nuisance! I use fencing from an old dog cage to surround the 'yard' for the birds and then on the door to the hen house I use an old 'outside' screen door panel. I don't have any problems with racoons, but I have plenty of issues with rats lately. But for that I use bar bait and put it in places where the chickens can't get it. I occasionally have had issues with opossums getting into my cage.

Now, I have had a problem with this group/flock digging out when the weather is too rainy to let them out. I solved this by putting some tin roofing panels along the inside of the cage area and wired them in. I don't have opposums getting in either. You know in the past when 1 would dare enter the chickens domain, it would be dead by morning. My chickens don't take lightly ANY animal, other than the rat, that dares mess with their 'space'.

Also, as for replacing your flock. I occasionally get a request from one of the feed stores where I sell my eggs for 'fertile' eggs. After I made sure they weren't charging more for these I do supply them as needed to help others out. This may be a cheaper option for you. Ask at your local feed store if they might be able to get you a dozen of fertile eggs and then you can put them into an incubator and raise them yourself at a greatly reduced price.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

I also closed my poultry up at night, but occas. some liked to sleep in the trees and I lost them to owls. The rooster rounded them up when hawks came around, but they also took their toll on my chickens. Then "loose farm dogs" killed my turkey and guineas. Finally raccoon broke into my hen house at night, dispite a motion light, and that ended it all. It seems every 2 years I need to completely restock! Getting costly these days, as the price of young hens is high!

I have 'free range' chickens. I keep them penned up over night, they are 'trained' to go back nightly, and open the door in the mornings. I haven't had a bad bug problem in years. They eat everything from cockroaches to mosquitos.

Not only do they help with bug control, but they also have better tasting eggs. I resell my eggs at a local feed store and they always remark on how 'lovely' my eggs look. They taste even better!!

I loved my 4 free range chickens. They only used the coop to sleep in, I found the eggs each day in the ferns under the oak tree. They ate enough bugs that I did not have problems with even fleas for 5 years. The eggs were the absolute best on the planet. I live in the city and my neighbors never complained because I did not have a rooster. I miss my girls.