As day breaks over the East family farm at Dapto, the first of 550 resident hens emerge from their sleeping quarters.
They have spent the night huddled together inside a van, but come 6am the doors open onto a lush hectare of pasture.
For the next 12 hours or so they’re free to roam, graze at their mobile “snack” feeder and enjoy the dark privacy of the nesting system, should the need arise.
These pasture-raised arrangements – considered on ethical and nutrition grounds to be a step up from standardised free-range egg farming practices – are the work of 34-year-old Will East, his brother Josh and his fiance Emily Frost.
Third generation cattle farmers and – more recently – operators of Kareelah Berry Farm, the brothers introduced pasture-raised eggs to their Marshall Mount property about two months ago as a new income-generating stream during the berry off-season.
The hens are a sideline, but Mr East clearly takes pride in the high standard of living he’s afforded his Hyline Browns.
“The girls definitely get a good life compared to a standard free range set-up,” he said.
“They spend all day looking for grubs and grass.
“This gives the bird the best lifestyle it could have. They’re not scratching next to each other. They’ve got so much room to move around and it’s more hygienic because they’re not moving around in their own poo.
“It’s not very often that you get to give a bird such freedom.”
Recently introduced free range egg laws are intended to help consumers wade through a supermarket decision-making process made murky by suspect marketing claims and packaging.
Under new standards which came into effect on April 26, producers are prohibited from using the words “free range” on their egg cartons unless their product was laid by hens that had “meaningful and regular access to an outdoor range during daylight hours of the laying cycle”.
The birds must also be free to roam and forage, and producers who use words or pictures to falsely imply their eggs are free range can be prosecuted by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commision for misleading and deceptive conduct.
Offering guidance to egg producers back in February, ACCC chairman Rod Sims said the new laws were intended to ensure consumers got what they paid for.
“Shoppers are willing to pay a premium for free range eggs, but only if the chickens genuinely have access to an outdoor range,” he said.
“From April 26, ‘free range’ must only be used by compliant egg producers to consumers can have confidence in the products they are buying.”
Producers must now declare their stocking density rates prominently on egg packaging.
But some take issue with this aspect of the national standard, which gives farmers clearance to label their eggs as free range as long as they run 10,000 or less hens per hectare.
The rate is a long way from the CSIRO's recommended maximum of 1500 and is four times the figure put forward by the RSPCA as acceptable under rotational egg-farming systems, where chickens are regularly moved on to fresh pasture for hygiene and quality reasons.
Mr East is among those who say the new laws don’t go far enough.
“You’re talking 10,000 per hectare, which is one bird per square metre of land, which is really quite small,” he said, adding pasture-raised methods remain rare because of the associated space requirements.
“The pastured side of farming eggs still isn't really seen as a way of [commercially] farming. You’ve to to have a lot more space if you want to run 10,000 chooks.
“If you don’t have the space it’s hard to maintain a good production.”
The Marshall Mount farm was bought by the brothers’ grandparents, Violet and Alfred East, and originally operated as a dairy cattle farm.
It covers 94 acres and the dairy operation has since merged into a beef cattle business and berry farm, with eggs, berries and jams sold at the farm gate.
The hens are moved to a different hectare of paddock every four or five days, in line with rotational methods.
Their eggs currently sell at $6 for a 600-gram dozen (the price will likely increase to $7.50 once the volume surpasses 700 grams) at the weekly Kiama Farmers’ Market, the monthly Berry Markets and at the farm gate, on Marshall Mount Road.
Kareelah is also a supplier of eggs to Three Flamingos Espresso at Albion Park, Joe’s Milk Bar at Albion Park and at Michel's Patisseries in Dapto and Casula.
The farm produces about 3300 eggs a week, and mostly sells all of these.
Mr East believes demand for pasture-derived product has some way still to climb.
“It provides an income through our [berry] off-season, but also there's an opening in the market for this style of farming for eggs,” he said.
“Demand is huge in certain states. We know that there’s a market here for it.”
The hens’ mobile feeder is there to provide them with any nutrients they don’t get from pasture.
It holds about one tonne of grain – enough to last about two weeks.
The birds are reduced to a comical row of tail feathers as they peck at the gravity-driven feed system.
Two alpacas - Alfie and Chopper – serve as guardians, there to drive away foxes or other predators.
Recently-arrived hens are taught to head for the nest system when when they feel an egg coming on.
“Once they reach about 18 weeks … when you walk through the chooks they will start to run over to you, they will do a little dance, spread their wings – they’re preparing for a rooster to mate,” Mr East said.
“We’ll pick the bird up and put them in the nest system, so they know that when they get that feeling they should go to the nest system.
“Throughout the day they'll come and go from the caravan to lay their eggs in there.
“We use a Rollaway nest system, which gives the girls privacy, with little curtains, in a nice, dark spot.
“I guess they feel more protected that way.”
Ms Frost primarily collects and sorts the eggs, which are strictly non-GMO and do not contain antibiotics or hormones.
A 2010 Cambridge University study that compared pastured hens to birds that were fed only commercial hen mash in cages suggested the former produced more nutritious eggs.
Compared to eggs from caged hens, pastured hens' eggs had twice as much vitamin E and long-chain omega-3 fats and 2.5-fold more total omega-3 fatty acids, the study found.
“At the end of the day it comes down to how you treat the birds,” Mr East said.
“If they're not looked after well, they’re not going to produce a good quality egg.”