Which chicken should I buy? Free Range or Organic?

[BroccoliSpears]

Apparently Sainsburys doesn't sell a free range organic one.

I'd go free range over organic (though preferably both) - if they've had space to run about they'll have more meat on them than fat. Like an athlete who eats the occasional Mars Bar, I guess.

Just to reiterate -- all organic brds are also free range. They are more free range than free range ones IYSWIM.

organic is not just to do with their diet. Organic birds have greater access to the outdoors than free range so better all round.

most chickens don't want to go outside though, I have been in (organic) barns where only 20 -30% of the birds ever venture into the fresh air. It's a nice image to have but not always the reality.

well, that's up to the chickens then. Organic is more than just diet, or just space. That's all.

So why are organic chickens less nutritious than battery farmed ones according to this research? Does the organic standard stipulate that they can roam about in wide open spaces?

mil the comments following that article say it all. And yes, organic certification stipulates that the chickens must have access to open space outside.

As for taste, well I have got so used to the taste of organic chicken I find the other stuff inedible.

An article By Hugh FW recently stated that it is better to buy organic since although FR chickens theoretically have access to an outside run there is no restriction on the size of the herd so they can be stuck in a barn and see the outside but not be able to get to it because there are too many other chickens in the way. Also, there is no requirement for an outside shelter (as there apparently is with organic farms) so if the weather is bad, the chickens won't want to go outside and you may as well be buying battery.

Well I read Muminlondon's link and according to the Soil Association, that research contradicts all the other research! It also says the research used supermarket organic, so it may be that it wasn't produced to Soil Association organic standards (cf Broccoli's 19.34 Wednesday post).