Cage-free hens aren’t confined to crowded pens in the coop. The USDA doesn’t regulate the term, but the United Egg Producers and American Humane Association labels help ensure producers meet strict standards for pecking space and ventilation.

This unregulated term suggests that eggs are laid by hens permitted to roam in the henhouse (but not necessarily with any access to the outdoors). Learn more.

Birds raised without cages. Does not guarantee that birds were allowed access to the outdoors or pasture. Birds may be raised in large flocks in commercial confinement facilities. There is no single, [..]

 Birds not confined to cages.  Generally, this means that the birds live on the floor or a large barn.