Have you ever watched a chicken run around outside? You know what they do? They search for food...and eat. So if you stick them in a cage, they get to eat without the search...and this is somehow BAD? Exactly WHICH chicken told them this? 
Actually, it is, though there's not any better solution as yet. Searching for food gives them daily exercise and, like humans, makes them healthier. They also eat a better variety of foods when they search for their own. Ideally, you should free-feed a quality feed (I mix my own) and the ability to seek their own tidbits. I have some that will literally circle my feet when I'm digging in the garden just so they can get to the grubs. Others couldn't be bothered and would rather have seeds or grass. I have one, Hattie (she's a pet) who is just nuts about roly poly bugs and peanuts. Turn over a piece of wood with roly polys and she'll be your friend for life.
Quality can be seen in the color of the yolk and the taste. The yolks of farm-fresh eggs from free range hens are varying degrees of very bright yellow (depending on their diet) and taste much richer than the ones you buy in the store. It's very relaxing to watch a flock of chickens scratching and pecking. They're curious, industrious birds with quite diverse levels of intelligence and friendliness. I even have one breed (one of my favorites, in fact), Buckeyes, that are good mousers.
Cindie
