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[Clansgian AT wmconnect.com]

Bev,

> I think the term means something far differently today than it did 10 
> years ago.  It's just like the term Free-Range....which used to mean 
> "chickens running loose and not in laying batteries" but now seems to 
> mean "chickens running loose inside a chicken house".
> 
> 

Doesn't even mean that much any more.  If the chickens are in a huge indoor 
area, basically just a very large battery cage, and they have a 6' x 6' 
concrete pad with a wire fence around it (and over it) that they COULD have 
access to 
through the 1' x 1' opening .... they COULD go out onto that bare concrete 
pad if they wanted to, if it weren't for the fact that they are drugged out 
of 
their gourd and bred beyond recognition as an actual chicken ..... But if hey 
COULD go out into the bright sunshine on that one bare slab of concrete for 
1000 chickens, then by definition they are "free range".