Applied to meat, eggs, dairy, and every now and then even fish, the free-range label is bullshit. It should provide no more peace of mind than “all-natural”, “fresh”, or “magical”.
To be considered free-range, chickens raised for meat must have “access to the outdoors”, which, if you take those words literally, mean nothing. (Imagine a shed containing thirty thousand chickens, with a small door at one end that opens to a five-by-five dirt patch-and the door is closed all but occasionally.)

The USDA doesn’t even have a definition of free-range for laying hens and instead relies on producer testimonials to support the accuracy of these claims. Very often, the eggs of factory farmed chickens—chickens packed against one another in vast barren barns—are labeled free range. (“Cage-free” is regulated but means no more or less than what it says-they are literally not in cages.) One can reliably assume that most “free-range” (or “cage-free”) laying hens are debeaked, drugged, and cruelly slaughtered once “spent”. I could keep a flock of hens under my sink and call them free-range.