WHAT do you get when you put 20,000 chickens on a hectare of land?

A free-range egg farm, according to the Australian Egg Corporation's proposed new definition of free range.

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Free-range producers have labelled the proposed definition "a con" and the RSPCA has also expressed concern.

The previous Model Code of Conduct allowed 1500 birds a hectare in outside areas.

The Free Range Farmers Association said the AEC had set up a working group "to develop words which will allow major farms to continue to produce eggs which can be labelled as free range".

FRFA secretary Dianne Moore said many major industry players labelled their eggs "free range", despite keeping 30,000 birds in a single shed.

The sheds had holes in the sides so producers could claim chickens had access to the outdoors but all food and water was kept inside, she said.

"Leave the term 'free range' for traditional, low-density egg farming and introduce a term like ... 'cage free' for the major players who don't meet the same standards," Ms Moore said.

A free-range egg producer, who did not wish to be named, said the move would "destroy" the free-range brand.

"If big people (producers) call them barn eggs, then fair enough, but for them to say 'we are free range' by making (the term free range) ludicrous is beyond belief," the producer said.

Stocking 20,000 hens on one hectare would result in "unimaginable mess", the producer said.

RSPCA farm animals scientific officer Melina Tensen said the stocking rate seemed "at odds with what we would think is consumer expectation".

"How sustainable is that range area going to be if you have that many birds on it?" Ms Tensen said.

She said range areas should have shade, food and water.

She also questioned the AEC's proposal that free-range birds could be kept inside for the first 25 weeks of their life.

Hens begin laying eggs - which would be labelled free range under the AEC's proposals - at 18 weeks of age.

AEC spokeswoman Jacqueline Baptista said the figure of 20,000 hens a hectare had come from "a visual representation we gave to consumers".

"We're running on consumer expectation," Ms Baptista said.

"We're still labouring to accumulate more science."