The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) defines "free range" as animals having continuous access to the outdoors for more than 51% of their lives, and not being confined or feedlot-raised for any portion of their lives. However, the term doesn't specify how much space per animal is required, how often they should have access to the outdoors, or the quality of the land. For example, a free-range chicken might live in a large shed with a small outdoor space that it shares with thousands of other birds.
It may also be that a lot of chicks were fried... :-(
Granted, that evokes memories of certain young (or even not quite so young) ladies back in my 20's and 30's. It was a good idea to maintain a certain distance from them. :-)
Which in turn recalls my observation at one time that "As the Beatles turned to psychedelic drugs, a lot of chicks got fried".
The Beatles went from ‘I want to hold your hand’ to ‘Why don’t we do it in the road?’