Cage-free eggs: What are you paying for, and are they better?

My chickens are spoiled already, and they won't lay eggs until August. Not so the chickens in large cage-free farms -- even the smaller, "better" ones. Doing away with cages may triple the value of a dozen eggs but it could also triple the cost; chickens are more likely to catch diseases when allowed to mingle, for one thing (and we're also trying to stay away from excessive antibiotics these days).

And there's another thing: cages keep chickens (not exactly the most even-keeled animals) from turning on one another. In close quarters and under poor conditions, chickens can become cannibalistic. In order to minimize this possibility -- after all, cage-free does not necessarily mean "freely roaming outdoors" -- chickens are kept in dim lighting and often have their beaks de-hooked so they won't harm one another if they start pecking.

All this is expensive, and what's more, questionable -- are chickens who are (as some activists say) mutilated a few days after birth and kept confined in huge barns under unnatural conditions, making them prone to disease, any better off than those in cages?

It's a tough question, and although I started buying cage-free eggs as soon as I brought home my chicks and and watched with delight as they chased each other for a yummy green treat, I'm not convinced that cage-free is the solution. (In fact, I'm convinced that my solution -- keeping pampered chickens in your backyard -- is by far the superior choice.) Will Starbucks change to cage-free eggs? Will cage-free be the next hormone-free? The answer is yet to come.