Eggs: Industrialization of the Egg Industry

Industrialization of the egg industry had a profound effect on the way chickens were raised; it was the beginning of the chicken and egg as commodities. Although Christopher Nisson had started Pioneer Hatchery, the first commercial hatchery on the West Coast in 1898 (and Jacob Graves had started the first commercial hatchery in the country in Boston in 1873), it was a small town in California that mastered the industrial production of chickens and eggs. Petaluma ascended to world-class status as the home of the largest egg ranch, Corliss, in 1918 and the largest hatchery, Must Hatch, in 1929.