chickens... really

do you ever have one of those "aha" moments where suddenly everything becomes clear and you know you can never go back to before the "aha' moment happened? Well, that happened to me this evening. As I was out getting dog food for our "dainty" eater Kaycee, I stopped off at the local starbucks for a black brew. They had a paper out on one of the tables as i stood waiting for my beverage, so I started to read the headlines. It went something like "Google branching out into eggs" or something to that nature. it peaked my interest, and reading on, it was about how large corporations are doing their part to not purchase caged eggs and how Google was going to start buying only "free range" or cage free eggs for their cafeteria's, not wanting to support cruelty to animals, and what happens to chickens that are in large farms. It went on to say how they can put up to 6 chickens in the same small 24" pen, and they dont let them peck their own food or out of the pen for up to 6 months after aquiring them. I am sure there are many statistics I have left out, but my point is that I had NO idea about this. I try to be a fairly "eco" conscious person if I can, and this is a example of how ignorance is bliss. Before I had this information, I could eat an egg from anywhere, not really think about it. But after reading what I did, there is no way in hell im going to eat an egg that is not marked cage free. I will make that little extra trip to the natural foods market where I can get free range eggs. I just did not know that they treated chickens like that, though after thinking about it, it's not surprising. I just am perplexed that I didnt realize it before and glad that I took a look at the story.