Free range chickens are supposedly not caged, or have very large cages,
as opposed to being in a cage where there is barely room for the chicken at all. Many times the chickens have their beaks cut off to prevent themselves from pecking themselves and other chickens.
I am sure PETA has a video or investigation report on chicken cruelty.

Chickens Raised for Their Eggs
More than 285 million hens are raised for eggs in the U.S., and nearly all of them spend their lives in battery cages, stacked tier upon tier in huge warehouses.(8 )Confined seven or eight to a cage, these birds don’t have enough room to spread their wings. Each year, millions of day-old male chicks are killed—usually in high-speed grinders called “macerators,” which shred them alive—because they are worthless to the egg industry.(9,10)

To prevent stress-induced behaviors caused by extreme crowding, such as pecking cagemates to death, hens are kept in semi-darkness, and the ends of their sensitive beaks are cut off with a hot blade—no painkillers are administered during this painful process.(11) The wire mesh of the cages rubs against their skin, making it raw, and causes their feet to become crippled. Farmers induce greater egg production through “forced molting”—shocking hens’ bodies into another egg-laying cycle by starving them for days and keeping them in the dark, a stressful situation that causes them to lose feathers and weight.(12)i wrote in a previous post that i might get some chickens so i can have my own eggs i will try my hardest to get rescue ones.

Broken bones are also common among these birds, who “suffer significant osteoporosis,” according to the International Veterinary Information Service.(13) A study published in Poultry Science explained that “high production hens’ structural bone is mobilized throughout the laying period in order to contribute to the formation of eggshell.”(14)

Although chickens can live for more than a decade, hens raised for their eggs are exhausted, and their egg production begins to wane when they are about 2 years old.(15,16) When this happens, they are slaughtered. More than 100 million “spent” hens are killed in slaughterhouses each year.(17)

For full report:http://www.peta.org/MC/factsheet_display.asp?ID=99

Michigan Man... the utmost respect for that post.

Chickens Raised for Their Eggs
More than 285 million hens are raised for eggs in the U.S., and nearly all of them spend their lives in battery cages, stacked tier upon tier in huge warehouses.(8 )Confined seven or eight to a cage, these birds don’t have enough room to spread their wings. Each year, millions of day-old male chicks are killed—usually in high-speed grinders called “macerators,” which shred them alive—because they are worthless to the egg industry.(9,10)

To prevent stress-induced behaviors caused by extreme crowding, such as pecking cagemates to death, hens are kept in semi-darkness, and the ends of their sensitive beaks are cut off with a hot blade—no painkillers are administered during this painful process.(11) The wire mesh of the cages rubs against their skin, making it raw, and causes their feet to become crippled. Farmers induce greater egg production through “forced molting”—shocking hens’ bodies into another egg-laying cycle by starving them for days and keeping them in the dark, a stressful situation that causes them to lose feathers and weight.(12)

Broken bones are also common among these birds, who “suffer significant osteoporosis,” according to the International Veterinary Information Service.(13) A study published in Poultry Science explained that “high production hens’ structural bone is mobilized throughout the laying period in order to contribute to the formation of eggshell.”(14)

Although chickens can live for more than a decade, hens raised for their eggs are exhausted, and their egg production begins to wane when they are about 2 years old.(15,16) When this happens, they are slaughtered. More than 100 million “spent” hens are killed in slaughterhouses each year.(17)

For full report:http://www.peta.org/MC/factsheet_display.asp?ID=99

picked up 20 hens from a egg farm here, got em cheap. poor things hardly had any feathers and toe nails almost wrapped double. trimmed their toes and let em loose to blend into the herd of other chickens, but forgot bout the sun. the poor girls all got sunburned bad so had to lock em up for a while in a semi shaded kennel to get em used to it. didnt harm em any. was laying eggs like no tomarrow couple days later