Not necessarily better. My uni did experiments to see how far a chicken moved after being put in a free range pen, and they hardly move. Such pens are large and contain hundreds if not 1000s of chickens. (We tend to imagine free range as 15 hens in a flock, but that is miles away from the truth) Hypothesis was that since Chicken are flock animals they get stressed in these pens and the weaker ones now are on the outside of multiple flocks leading to more stress and feather picking as dominance never really are settled. Roomy cages with proper perches and such paradoxically might be "better" for industrially farmed chicken.

[–] Tinks@lemmy.world 1 points 8 hours ago

The terminology on the various bird conditions is frustrating and confusing. Cage free can effectively be exactly what you described - entirely indoors, crammed in and miserable, but not in cages. Free Range birds must have "access to the outdoors" but that can be as small as a hole they can stick their head out of but not go through. It's honestly ridiculous.

If you buy grocery store eggs, I would recommend looking for the Certified Humane stamp on eggs and other farm products and meats. While the conditions they require are still far from idyllic, they are better than the general standards most livestock exist in. For chickens, pasture raised certified humane is a good option as birds must be let fully outside into the pasture, must have a minimum of 10 square meters per bird when out there, and must be allowed out for a minimum of 6 hours per day. At least in these conditions, they can reasonably be birds and touch grass. There are a lot of other requirements as well, including perches and dust baths. Ideally if you can afford the extra couple of dollars, these are good companies to support. (There are also other 3rd party companies that certify pasture raised eggs, the Certified Humane one is just most common in my area).