In 1900 there were approximately 76 million people in the United States, of which approximately 44% (33 million) were involved in agriculture. It is likely that most every farm had some chickens for both egg and meat consumption. Poultry Tribune magazine reported there to be over five (5) million farms with egg producing hens in 1900. By the year 2000, the U.S. population had grown to 280 million people of which only about 2% (5.6 million) were involved in agriculture.

Poultry Tribune magazine referenced 1900 egg production by writing the following: “The bulk of commercial eggs – probably 90% of the entire production – is produced on general farms as a sideline or by-product. The flocks usually consist of 100 to 300 birds, which range freely around the farm buildings and pick up a large part of their feed from waste grain, weed seeds and insects. The work connected with the birds is done by women and children, and poultry is usually regarded as a source of “pin money” for the housewife. Marketing of eggs under these circumstances is through the general store or the traveling huckster who drives from farm to farm.”

As late as the 1940’s, small backyard flocks of chickens made up the majority of the egg producing industry. After these chickens laid a relatively few eggs, they were consumed for meat. These hens entered into a molt during winter months and stopped producing eggs. Consumers wanting to purchase eggs during the winter months had to receive them from cold storage, which quite often meant nothing more than simply the farmer’s basement or an icehouse. The eggs could be several weeks old by the time the consumer actually received them. Today, eggs are refrigerated from the point of production through delivery to your home or restaurant and are cleaner and fresher than they have ever been.

Backyard chickens, continuously subjected to disease, freezing or heat stress, predators, poisoning, and infighting had a precarious existence and a normal mortality rate of 40% per year. Average yearly egg production was little more than 100 eggs, of which many were contaminated by the microbes from poultry diseases. Today, in modern egg farming, the annual flock mortality is about 5% with each hen producing about 265 eggs per year.

With the migration of families from the farm to urban areas, egg farming needed to change like all of animal agriculture. Modern egg farming was born in response to this demand.

To meet a changing market, farmers needed to upgrade their production facilities while keeping in mind the health and welfare of their birds. They also recognized the need to deliver eggs to the market in the most economical and quickest manner possible. The modern cage system was found to be a system that could meet both requirements in a commercial market.

The modern cage system has eliminated most diseases of the 1940s, provided the hens with protection against the weather (environmental controlled housing) and predators, while also improving food safety, the environment (air and water), and animal welfare. The first widespread acceptance of the cage system began in the mid-to-late 1940s. Trade journals and books in the 1950s reported that the cage became popular to improve sanitation practices. Housing hens in cages removed the bird from exposure to its own feces, and eliminated many feces-related parasite and health problems. The journals continued to say that as a result of caging, flock nutrition could be better managed, wastes could be handled more effectively, and eggs could be kept cleaner and safer for the consumer.

With fewer farmers to produce eggs and a growing demand, egg farmers needed to find ways in which to manage more birds in the most efficient manner, while using fewer land resources. To a large degree, modern poultry housing and husbandry practices were researched by land grant colleges and universities and have been adopted by the farmers. This research is forever ongoing and egg farmers continue to make changes as credible scientific research provides more answers.

Agriculture is not alone in trying to find ways to meet market demand. In fact, the major cause of egg farming being consolidated into fewer but larger farms was the consolidation of retail grocery and restaurant chains. The few remaining small family farms could no longer produce and provide the quantity and quality of product that the retail market now demanded with the required rapid delivery at the lowest price possible. In order to meet this new market, egg farmers needed to grow to the size and scale required by their customers. Today, there are approximately 235 egg farmers with flocks of 75,000 hens or more. These farmers care for about 95% of the approximate 290 million laying hens in the United States.

Modern egg farms operating in a free market system with no government assistance programs require large capital investments. While these farms have grown to meet the market demand, they are still classified as “Family Farms” with the owner still being on the farm making day-to-day decisions.