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Commercial free range hens in Scotland Baby free range chicken in the hand of a person in Ishwarganj Upazila, Mymensingh, Bangladesh A small flock of mixed free-range chickens being fed outdoors. Free range denotes a method of farming husbandry where the animals can roam freely outdoors for at least part of the day, rather than being confined ...
A free range pastured chicken system. Pastured poultry also known as pasture-raised poultry or pasture raised eggs is a sustainable agriculture technique that calls for the raising of laying chickens, meat chickens (broilers), guinea fowl, and/or turkeys on pasture, as opposed to indoor confinement like in battery cage hens or in some cage-free and 'free range' setups with limited "access ...
Free range farmers have less control than farmers using cages in what food their chickens eat, which can lead to unreliable productivity, [16] though supplementary feeding reduces this uncertainty. In some farms, the manure from free range poultry can be used to benefit crops.
The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especially chickens. People in Southeast Asia began harvesting chicken eggs for food by 1500 BCE. [2] Eggs of other birds, such as ducks and ostriches, are eaten regularly but much less commonly than those of chickens. People may also eat the eggs of reptiles, amphibians, and fish.
A wide range of other species, such as horse, water buffalo, llama, rabbit, and guinea pig, are used as livestock in some parts of the world. Insect farming, as well as aquaculture of fish, molluscs, and crustaceans, is widespread. Modern animal husbandry relies on production systems adapted to the type of land available.
Commercial free-range hens outdoors Commercial free-range hens indoors. Cage-free eggs have been a major cause of debate in the US. In 2015, there was an initiative proposed in Massachusetts that would ban the sale of in-state meat or eggs "from caged animals raised anywhere in the nation".
In the United States, chickens were raised primarily on family farms or in some cases, in poultry colonies, such as Judge Emery's Poultry Colony [1] until about 1960. Originally, the primary value in poultry keeping was eggs, and meat was considered a byproduct of egg production. [2]
Since then, the keeping of chickens has spread around the world for the production of food with the domestic fowl being a valuable source of both eggs and meat. [28] Since their domestication, a large number of breeds of chickens have been established, but with the exception of the white Leghorn, most commercial birds are of hybrid origin. [18]