Is 600,000 Chickens Small?

A discussion in Farm Policy about confusion in California about the enforcement of humane standards for hens includes this quote:

The Journal article pointed out that, “John Lewis Jr., president of Farmer John Eggs in Bakersfield, says he doesn’t know what to do with his small, family-run company’s 600,000 hens. He doesn’t want to put them in a cage-free environment because, he says, they would be running around in their own feces and he would have to feed them antibiotics.
“Plus, when they are on the ground, he said, ‘If something scares them, they all run into a corner and pile on top of each other and suffocate very quickly.’”

As we never had more than 1700 poultry (all ages) at one time, I disagree with the "small". But I agree: chickens are stupid, I do not like chickens, and chickens easily panic and smother (just like humans--where was that crowd that stampeded and 19 were killed?).