West of the Murrumbidgee River near Tharwa, these chooks scratch through tufts of African lovegrass, sleep under mobile sheds wrapped in hessian coffee sacks and, amid a row over free range egg prices, have been declared among the happiest little brown hens in Australia.
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At Cuppacumbalong Homestead they are stocked at 150 chooks per hectare, which has landed them on top of consumer advocacy group Choice's study across 55 Australian free range producers.
Bungendore had the survey's second and third most generous stocking densities, at Long Paddock Eggs, which has 185 chooks per hectare and Mulloon Creek which has 350.
Choice says the free range egg-business is booming, cornering 39 per cent of the egg market by value and attracts a price premium over cage and barn eggs. Choice wants a national standard to replace voluntary codes, because some producers are charging more even though their density rates are anything but free range.
Cuppacumbalong farmer Bruce Gibbs has two restaurants in Canberra and does not rely solely on his chooks for a living. "You can't survive on the number of chickens we have, ours is a permaculture system for our baker, we get rid of our spent bread and integrate the chooks with our other animals, dorper sheep and cattle."
He reckons the ACT region topped Choice's survey because of a well-educated and discerning market willing to pay extra for fresh eggs. "Ten years ago when I attempted to become more than wholesaling to other people, I couldn't make it on price, but now people will pay a little bit more. My competitors at the market charge $2 more than I do [$7 a dozen].
Cuppacumbalong farm manager Shane Hughes says the isa brown chooks are grown out to three-and-a-half-years old, unlike 90 per cent of other egg producers who discard their chooks after 80 weeks.
The old girls are moulting, put up with minus 9 degree mornings and are still producing enough eggs to cover their feed bill. "The cattle come through first and clean up the heads on the lovegrass, and the chooks follow and are kept on one spot for 34 days and clean up 60 to 70 per cent of the grass. If any rain comes there's a green flush and the sheep will feed on it."
Meat from sheep and cattle go into pies and sausage rolls which are sold at farmers markets. Ultimately the farmers would like to put their old birds into pies as well.
Mr Gibbs does not regard his chooks as free range, but more open range. "They fenced at any one time because of foxes, for no other reason." He will put alpacas on the place to complement the maremma dogs to ward off foxes.
