Looking at a second-hand egg-carton, I noticed that the original company (before the carton was re-used by a local farm) had boasted thus:
We believe true free range is allowing hens a full 8 acres of outdoor space on which to roam (or 21.8 sq. ft. per hen), vs the minimum free range standard of 2 sq. ft. per hen.
Then I think of Kipling:
I run eight hundred hens to the acre
They die by dozens mysteriously.
Hm. 800/acre gives 54.45 square feet per hen, and this is supposed to be an example of terrible overcrowding? (One might be wary of taking advice on poultry-raising from a poet, but a little rummaging suggests that 100 hens to the acre was considered a reasonable upper bound in his day.) Now, it seems, 2000/acre is being generous with the space!
Sometimes I kinda wonder about these modern advances.
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