Free Range vs. Cage Free
Free range and cage free are two types of environments a hen can live in to create eggs. Both practices were put in place after people began to realize how people were treating hens; that is cramming them into small "battery cages", that was found to be an inhumane act. To correct this, new practices were brought about that allowed the hens to have more space and freedom. Two separate practices for this idea resulted in free range hens and cage free hens for egg production.
Free Range Hens
Free range chickens are chickens that have access to the outdoors. Their entire lives are not spent outdoors, but rather the owner can decide when he or she wants to allow the chickens to have roaming experience. In most free range practices, farmers tend to wait to allow chickens to have their outdoor time until they have reached a mature age. This is because by the time chickens have matured, they are, for all intents and purposes, 'trained'. Adult chickens have a tendency to do what they have always been doing, so farmers have less to worry about, knowing the chickens will act calm towards this new experience. However, some farmers wait until chickens reach maturity because they hope by that point, the chickens will become so used to living indoors, that they would not want to go outside if the opportunity arises.
Cage Free Hens
Unlike free range hens, there are no regulations for the care or maintenance of hens that are cage free. The practice simply means that the hens are not placed in cages. It is up to the owner's discretion on the treatment of the hens beyond the fact that they are no longer in small cages. Although the chickens' welfare does increase in a cage free environment over the original battery cage environment, there are still some chicken farms that don't treat their cage free hens humanely. In a cage free environment, however, the chickens are free to spread their wings, walk around, and lay their eggs in nests, which are all denied in battery cages.