Free range eggs

I have just been tidying the fridge (displacement activity: there are more important things that I should really be doing but don't want to) and noticed that there is more to free range eggs than I had hitherto suspected.

Eggs from ASDA come in a box marked: "laid by hens that are *free to roam* on *British farms* in the *fresh air* from dawn to dusk". (The asterisks indicate words printed in a much larger font.)

Eggs from Sainsbury's are "Woodland" eggs: "free range eggs from hens free to roam in the natural shelter of trees". Inside the box we are told:

"Like their wild ancestors, hens still prefer the shelter of trees. These eggs come from hens with access to established woodland or where trees have been planted to enrich the range and provide natural cover. This encourages them to range more and live fuller and more active lives exploring and foraging beneath the trees. A more natural free ranging life means healthy hens and high quality eggs."

I do wonder how the preference of hens for ranging under trees is known. And why does it matter whether the trees are established or newly planted? "Dawn to dusk" suggests that the ASDA hens get called in at night but presumably the Sainsbury's ones sleep out under their trees.

Obaue: range is used by the Sainsbury's marketing people in both verb and noun form. It seems to me that the noun form is relatively unusual in this sense. Except of course in the song, which mentions free range bear and antelope but not hens.
--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)



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