According to The Age, Mr Sirko said his chickens have literally been flying out the door and the phone ringing off the hook since he placed 1500 free range chickens on the buy and sell website Gumtree on Sunday (1 December).

"They are only about 200 or so left," Mr Sirko said. "The phone hasn't stopped."

Bickley Valley Free Range Eggs house about 12,000 chickens at a time, but feed costs force him to rotate his older stock for younger chicks when egg production slows after about a year.

Rather than kill the chickens, Mr Sirko gives his chooks away, but his usual taker hasn't come forward this time.

"They still lay fine, they are still good chickens and you get plenty of eggs out of them, but just because we run a business we need they to run at a maximum," Mr Sirko said.

"We try to keep them alive. We are a very authentic free range farm who jumps through a lot of hoops to get accreditation. We are trying to do the right thing."