Small producers have no economy of scale. We own 3 chickens and just the hatchlings cost me more than a 5lb chicken from the store. Add in 6 months of food and I'm probably at 25-30 bucks a chicken before I get a single egg. Since I can't get a chicken to weight (food wise) for the price i pay for a cleaned full grown chicken obviously there is a different price scale at the mass production end. My ethics don't really extend to the chicken itself it's got the intellectual capacity of an ant. Ifit was cheaper to grow them in test tubes I wouldn't even be opposed to that. But I do think that that the people working these facilities should be treated better and I have empathy for them.
I know no one who has raised chickens who views them more favorably than iguanas. Most people I've met are indifferent to lizards but actively disparaging of chickens. Bill McKibben in Eaarth describes attempting to get local farmers around his place in New Hampshire to produce sustainable bacon. None of them could do it for less than $14/lb.