"Free Range" Chickens

In his book Omnivore's Dilemma, Pollack sheds light on some of the questions I had about organic food.. or should I say "organic" food. Part of his research for the book was going to a real sustainable farm and comparing/contrasting this with one of the "industrial organic" farms that supply, for example, eggs to Whole Foods. Where on the sustainable farm the chickens are literally out in the open and in general well cared for, the industrial organic farms had a whole different picture. These chicken were supposed to be "free range" as advertised on the egg carton. But "free range"meant that the chicken were pretty much taken care of the same way non organic industrial eggs chicken were.. in vast warehouses indoors. The difference being that they were fed organic chicken feed and that there was a tiny door at the end of the warehouse. The caveat was that the chicken were held indoors for the first five weeks of their lives and only then was this door unlocked. By then the chicken were so accustomed to being indoors that they never would leave. This was extremely eye-opening to me and helped me to question if it really was worth paying extra money for "free range" chicken eggs.