Pasture Raised Egg Farm – Chooks at The Rooke (Our Story)
Meet the Farmers Behind Your Eggs
Pasture raised. PROOF Certified. Ethical, sustainable farming. 190 hens per hectare.
If you’re happy with how these eggs are raised, you can see what’s available here.
The Story of Chooks At The Rooke
Chooks At The Rooke is a family run pasture raised egg farm in Cororooke, southwest Victoria. The farm is led by Xav Prime and Kimberley Burridge, supported by a small team who share a clear set of values: animal welfare, soil health, flavour, and transparency.
Unlike large scale shed systems, the hens at Chooks At The Rooke live outdoors on real pasture every day. They forage for bugs and grasses, dust bathe in the sun, perch at night, and move freely across open paddocks.
Stocking density sits at just 190 hens per hectare. For context, supermarket free range eggs can legally come from farms housing up to 10,000 hens per hectare. Space changes everything about how a hen lives.
Xav grew up around chooks and started egg farming as a primary school kid. A long standing interest in honest food and animal welfare eventually led him to establish Chooks At The Rooke, now home to around 2,000 laying hens spread across 160 acres of pasture. Today, the farm supplies families, cafés, and chefs across Victoria.
As Xav puts it, it is simply a system that lets chooks be chooks.
Farming With Intention
Every decision on the farm is made with the animal and the land in mind.
The hens live at low density on pasture, are moved regularly through rotational grazing, and are fed a soy free diet. There are no shortcuts and no systems designed purely for efficiency at scale.
This approach supports healthier birds, healthier soil, and eggs that reflect how they were produced.
What Makes Our Farm Different
- Hens live outdoors on pasture every day
- Stocking density of 190 hens per hectare
- Soy free feed for cleaner nutrition
- Seven Maremma guardian dogs protect free roaming hens
- Rotational grazing supports soil health and pasture recovery
- Hens forage, dust bathe, perch, and express natural behaviour
- No routine culling, with roosters raised with purpose
- Retired hens are rehomed into local backyards
This is not factory farming. It is real food, raised with care.
Trusted by Chefs, Loved by Locals
Chefs who visit the farm see exactly where their eggs come from. Not a warehouse, not a shed, but open paddocks with hens moving freely across pasture.
Many describe the flavour as immediately noticeable, with bright yolks and consistency they cannot get from industrial supply chains. Customers tell us the same thing. Once they switch, they rarely go back.
As one chef put it:
"Take a box home, try them, then come back and tell us what you think. People always do."
Our Promise
We farm so that animals, land, and community can thrive together.
When you buy these eggs, you are supporting ethical farming, local jobs, regenerative land care, and a better food system.
Eggs laid on pasture and delivered fresh to your door, the way it should be.