Federal Court weighs in on free range egg debate

Free range eggs are all laid at 5 star chicken resorts, right? Hens primp on banana lounges sipping long island iced teas and getting pedicures.

Wrong.

There are no mandatory standards on free range farming in Australia. There are voluntary standards, allowing bird densities ranging from 750 birds per hectare to 20,000 birds per hectare. In the latter case, that's 2 chickens per square metre of open range, which seems a bit cosy.

The problem is that egg demand is really high. If we force the farmers to impose lower stocking densities then there will be fewer free range eggs in the market and we'll all have to buy barn laid eggs. That's no good for the chickens, or your conscience.