Take Heart!
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

Chicken meat and egg sales

What should be obvious to all of us is slowly coming to light. Animals must be treated ethically on the simple premise that God created them for purposes other than being exploited by us. They exist to glorify God and to share the earth with us as companions and helpers.

In the area of food production, animals raised for food are not even considered sentient beings but commodities; and their God-given rights are ignored. In spite of the callousness of these industries, in this case the chicken and egg industry, the increasing concern for animal welfare is clearly affecting the sales of animal meat and products.

According to the United Kingdom (U.K.)’s National Farmers Union, the sales of meat of chickens allowed to roam freely outdoors is 10 times greater than of chickens housed in confined conditions. However, of the 860 million chickens annually produced in the UK, about 94% are still raised indoors. On the same token, organic, free-range or barn eggs sales have increased 24% between 2002 and 2005.

Similarly, a report by Research and Markets indicates that the sales of eggs in the US have decreased since 2000 due to “ethical food production” concerns.

Read more at Animal Issues