Egg production on a small scale is one of the oldest animal farming enterprises in recorded history. In this system, birds are fed a small amount of grain and allowed to forage for the balance of their diet. Birds can be used for egg production or may be killed for food.

In the United States, egg production followed these principles until early in the 20th century. Then new systems emerged for producing eggs in more confined facilities, making the operation more efficient. In addition, population shifts from farms to towns and cities increased the demand for fresh produce. These changes encouraged many dairy farmers to include egg production as an additional enterprise.

The late 1950s and 1960s saw drastic changes in the industry. Co-ops, feed companies, and other private firms organized egg production into a vertically integrated industry. This meant that egg production on a farm changed from a secondary to a primary enterprise with specialized production methods. The result was virtual elimination of small-scale egg farming.

In the 1980s and 1990s small-scale layer production has made a comeback mainly because of changing consumer demands. New markets are continually being developed to supply specific niche market needs, especially for organically produced brown eggs (although white eggs also are popular). Layers raised organically and used for producing organic eggs are much more valuable at the end of their production cycle; they can be sold as roasters. Nonorganic layers are sold to make protein supplements for dog and cat food.

While there are no federal organic food standards (at present being developed), many states and private organizations certify organically produced meat and eggs. To obtain organic enterprise certification in Pennsylvania, contact Pennsylvania Certified Organic at (814) 364-1344 for further information.

Budgeting
We have included sample budgets for both production systems. The assumptions are as follows:

Nonorganic small-scale production. Assume birds are housed at 18 weeks of age, molted at 70 weeks of age (52 weeks of production), and sold at 110 weeks of age (an additional 30 weeks of production). Feed for the entire period amounts to 142 pounds per bird. Layers are sold as stewing hens.

Organic small-scale production. Assume birds are housed at 18 weeks of age and sold at 70 weeks of age (52 weeks of production). Feed for the 52 weeks amounts to 90 pounds per bird. Birds may be sold as organic roasting chickens and are more valuable than commercial stewing hens. Mortality is estimated at 0.15 percent per week.

Marketing
As with any small business, you should research markets before starting production. The major markets for eggs from small flocks are specialty stores, farmers’ markets, roadside stands, and neighbors. Additional niche markets exist for people who want organic, fertilized, or free-range eggs. Since very little information about these markets is available, developing them requires time.

Getting Started
One of the most practical ways to get started is to begin with a flock of 1,000 birds and use existing facilities when feasible. A unit of this size allows you to learn the necessary production and marketing skills without making a large investment. Costs are limited to a layer house, nests, and feed and watering equipment.

Start with young pullets (16 to 18 weeks old) from a reputable dealer. Buy birds that are ready to begin producing eggs. Make sure they are certified by the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP) to be free of Salmonella pullorum, Salmonella typhoid, and mycoplasma. Before pullets arrive check that the litter is dry and all feeders and drinkers are in good working order.

Establishment
Provide at least 1.5 square feet of floor space per bird. Cover with clean straw, wood shavings, or sawdust. One feed pan usually provides enough space for 20 birds. Sufficient watering equipment should be available for 20 birds per cup, 12 birds per nipple, or 1 bird per linear inch of trough space. Birds do not lay eggs at the same time, so nests can be supplied at the rate of one nest per five hens.

Lighting stimulates the pullet to lay eggs. Gradually increase the length of time hens are exposed to light once they arrive at your farm. Start with 12 hours of light per day at an indoor intensity that just allows you to read the fine print of a newspaper at night. Increase daylight length by 30 minutes per week until you reach 16 hours of light per day. Additional outside light exposure is fine; just have the 16-hour program begin and remain on before and after dawn and dusk.

Conventional layer mash feed can be purchased at your local feed store. Certified organic feeds are available, but they may be more difficult to find and are more costly. All hen mash should contain at least 3.5 percent calcium. Additional free-choice calcium may be provided after birds are 45 weeks old to aid in good shell formation.

Disease Problem
Biosecurity and sanitation are necessary to prevent disease outbreaks. Biosecurity involves isolating birds by age group, restricting human access to buildings, keeping the buildings clean, and properly disposing of dead birds. Isolate new birds for one month before contact with other birds to prevent the introduction of diseases.

Regulations for Selling Eggs
The regulations for selling eggs may vary from state to state. You should check with your state agricultural department for details.

Economics of Chicken Farming
... part 2 of a series
       by Ohio State University Agricultural Extension

Our sample budgets summarize costs and returns for small-scale production of conventional and organic eggs plus an initial resource requirement. The budgets assume the purchase of 1,000 birds, a 1,500-square-foot building, nests, and feed and watering equipment.

These budgets should help ensure that you include all costs and receipts in your calculations. Costs may be difficult to estimate in budget preparation because they are numerous and variable. Therefore, think of these budgets as an approximation, then make appropriate adjustments using the “your estimate” column to reflect your specific production situation. More information on using livestock budgets can be found in Agricultural Alternatives: Enterprise Budgeting Analysis.

Sample Budget for Conventional White Egg Flock
1,000 hens molted at 70 weeks and sold at 110 weeks. Budget is for 1.6 years.

Assume birds are housed at 18 weeks of age, molted at 70 weeks of age (52 weeks of production), and sold at 110 weeks of age (an additional 30 weeks of production).

Feed for the entire period—142 lb/bird.

Mortality estimated at 0.15% per week.

How do I make charcoal?
1. Get a big metal drum. Make five 2 inch holes in the bottom near the center of the drum.
2. Put three bricks or big rocks on the ground and set the drum on top with the open end up. Don’t cover up the holes with the bricks.
3. Chop seasoned hardwood into big pieces about 5x5 inches. Only use broadleaf trees like maple, almond, hickory, etc. Start a fire in the drum with small kindling and when it is done start putting the larger pieces at the bottom, filling the bucket to the top.
4. When the fire is really hot and burning well, pile up dirt around the bottom only leaving a 4 inch gap.
5. Put the lid on almost all the way, but not quite all the way so that smoke can escape. White smoke will come out, and when it starts to slow down, bang on the drum so the wood will settle and more smoke will come out. It will take about four hours to finish.
6. When the smoke turns to thin blue, close off all the air to the wood by shutting the lid tight, and pile up more dirt to cover the 4 inch gap at the bottom. If any air gets in, the charcoal will burn so be extra sure it is airtight. Let it cool.
7. After 24 hours, dump out the charcoal.

How do I make charcoal in a traditional earth mound?
Instead of putting the wood into a drum, you can pile it up on some cleared ground or in a small pit, with the largest wood at the bottom. You can also insert a pole in the middle. Then cover it with grasses and leaves, and on top of that put sand and dirt, leaving small openings all around the bottom for air to go in. Remove the pole, start the fire in the hole that is left and watch the smoke come out the top. When the wood is done burning, cover the holes around the bottom and the hole in the top with more dirt.

How do I make pitch?
1. Pitch is somewhat like tar but it is from a tree. First collect pine resin by cutting diagonal cuts into a pine tree, and put a bucket at the base so the groove with the resin will run down into the bucket.
2. When all the resin has run out of the tree, chop down the tree and make it into charcoal.
3. Powder the charcoal by grinding it up, and bring the pine resin to a boil. If you want very liquid pitch then add less charcoal to the resin, but if you want a very strong pitch then add more.
4. The pitch is used to make wood things waterproof, such as buckets and Archimedes screws.

Cabin styles:

Adirondack: a half-house, in the old days the front was left open to let the heat of a campfire inside. The roof does not have a peak and it slopes downward in the back. Quick and easy to build, a 12 feet wide by 8 feet deep Adirondack needs 60 logs 8 inches in diameter.

Alaskan trapper: has a steep roof with a ridgepole running from front to back. The roof sticks out in the front and covers a small front porch. With such a tall roof the one-room cabin feels bigger. An addition can be added to the back end of the house easily.

Appalachian: a one or two-story cabin with the ridgepole running along the width of the house. While Alaskan’s are long and skinny, Appalachian’s are wide and short. They are traditionally made with squared-off logs.

What is a cabin kit?
Cabin kit manufacturers have special mills which plane out imperfections and precision-fit the logs together. They also dry and treat these logs for longevity, and they often have good plans and it comes with all the lumber and windows. They save time too. However they cost much more (not only do you pay for the kit, you have to ship it too), and you don’t get the experience of doing it from scratch.

To make a log cabin foundation and floor without a basement:
Note: This is to build a cabin in which the logs are flattened on top and the notches are squared. This makes a very tight cabin, but if you are pressed for time or do not have the time or tools, ignore hewing the logs and simply follow the tradition cabin log stacking which leaves the logs round and the notches are further in and curved.

1. Make a foundation out of stone by digging a ditch the shape of your house. Make a stone wall inside it, and cement it with concrete.
2. To make the floor, place two sill logs (logs that support the floor) on the foundation wall on opposite sides of the house and secure them. Cut square notches in the sills on both ends of these logs (the notch is like an L shape, and the other logs will fit into this L).

3. Take 8 inch logs and hew them flat on top. Cut the ends square to fit into the notches, and make sure they are secured.
4. If your floor is more than 10 feet long, you will need a center floor girder, to rest the ends of the logs on.
5. Lay 1x8 rough lumber on the floor to make a subfloor and secure it. Then lay wide pine boards, or oak or maple. Fasten with trunnels (wooden pegs hammered with a mallet), or nails.

To make a log cabin foundation and floor with a basement:
1. Dig a hole the size of your house and make a stone floor and walls all the way up. Make your foundation extend two feet above the ground.
2. Dig a trench all around your basement to the same level as the basement floor, and place 4 inch, flexible, perforated plastic tubing all the way around.  Connect a pipe to it leading away and downhill from the house. Fill the trench with gravel. There should be 3-5 inches of gravel under the tubing, and at least 4 inches on top of it. This is to keep moisture out.
3. To make the floor, place two sill logs (logs that support the floor) on the foundation wall on opposite sides of the house and secure them. Cut square notches in the sills on both ends of these logs (the notch is like an L shape, and the other logs will fit into this L).
4. Take 8 inch logs and hew them flat on top. Cut the ends square to fit into the notches, and make sure they are secured.
5. If your floor is more than 10 feet long, you will need a center floor girder, to rest the ends of the logs on. You will need to make a frame for an entry hole into the basement, which will be fastened to the sills. Don't put boards over the hole.
6. Lay 1x8 rough lumber on the floor to make a subfloor and secure it. Then lay wide pine boards, or oak or maple. Fasten with trunnels (wooden pegs hammered with a mallet), or nails.

How do I make the cabin walls?
1. Cut enough logs to make your house. You will have to estimate how long and how tall you want your house, and how wide each log is, in order to figure this out. You can either hew your logs square, hew only the tops and bottoms (as described above), or leave them round and chink it (or fill in the gaps).
2. On every log, you will need to cut a notch which will fit in with another log. When you lay the logs, you go around in a circle, and the logs fit together at 90 degree angles to form a corner of the cabin. The notch is shaped like an L, and must fit the L notch in the next log as tightly as possible.
3. As the cabin gets taller, put two poles on either end of one side of the house, leaning against the top. Place the log at the bottom of the poles. Fasten two ropes to the inside of the opposite side of the house, and pull them over to the side you are working on. Slip them under the log, tie them together, and put the rope back over the house to the other side. Pull the rope so that the log rolls up the poles to the notch. Repeat for all logs.
4. Alternate the wide and narrow ends of the logs, and make sure everything is level and fits right before continuing to the next log. Cut the holes for the windows and doors as you go (although you can do it later, but it's easier this way).
5. If you want a loft, build to the top of the walls, and then make notches 2 feet apart in the top log where you want your loft to be supported. Lay tie beams (notched beams resting their ends on either wall near the roof), then build up the wall more to the height you want. You can lay flooring on the tie beams later.

How do I build the roof and finish the cabin?
1. Lay two longer logs, which have been hewed flat on one side, on top of two sides of the house extending past the walls (making eaves).
2. Think about where you want the triangular frame for the roof to be, and put the triangles on the walls you didn't put the flat logs.

3. Lay a long ridgepole from the tip of one triangular frame to the other, extending out as far as the long logs on each side.
4. Make notches on the top log of the walls (the ones you just laid that were hewed flat), and lay tie beams in these notches all the way down the house.
5. Lay rafters down both sides of the roof, resting one end on the ridgepole and the other end on the top log of the wall. Notch the wall end to rest on the corner of the log.

6. Put a support between the rafters on each side, extending across from on side to the other, about halfway up the rafter. These supports cross under the ridgepole.
7. Lay boards on top of the rafters to support the shingles.
8. On the bottom of the roof, lay down a layer of tarpaper, then lay down shingles, planks, or some other kind of roofing.
9. Cut a groove around the window and door holes. Make door and window frames, and put a long strip of wood on each side to fit into the groove. Make the door step of a hardwood like oak. Fasten with trunnels or nails.
10. Chink (seal the openings) with clay or concrete every so often until the house settles. Then you will not have to do it so frequently. Insulate and waterproof your roof from the inside, either with insulation and plastic, or straw and other materials.
11. When installing windows and doors, your cabin will settle over time and windows can buckle. Leave a slot above the window and fill it with soft insulation, and when fastening the window to a buck (a window support), cut a slot under each nail so that it can travel down the slot.
12. Wait a few days for the logs to thoroughly dry then buy real log sealant, not stain (or make your own). Do two coats because the first coat will soak in.

How does a loom work?

In its most basic form a loom is a frame which is used to make any kind of woven material including tapestries, fabric, carpets, mats, belts, beadwork, etc. Schoolchildren make looms from a picture frame with nails or notches on both ends which hold the ‘warp’. The warp is the tight, stationary threads through which you weave. Looms range from simple placemat looms, table-top looms, wall-sized belt looms, or looms the size of an entire room. The more complicated looms have ‘heddles’ which hold intervals of the warp-thread up to create alternating ‘sheds’ (the space between the warp when it is lifted) so that the shuttle (a tool with the weaving thread, called weft, wrapped around it) can be thrown through the warp without the tedious job of going in and out of the threads.

How do I make a loom?

Building a loom with treadles or levers to switch between your warp threads is very complicated and beyond most people’s carpentry skills. However, there is an ancient kind of loom called a warp weighted loom which is fairly easy to build. It consists of a large frame which is leaned against the wall, and the warp is only tied at the top. They are held at the bottom by heavy weights. Instead of mechanical heddles, the weighted loom uses string heddles which are moved with a heddle rod. You can make the loom as wide as you want, but do not make it so tall that you can’t reach it when standing up.

How do I make the warp weighted loom?

1. Sand two 8 foot 2 x 4 beams and lay them side by side. These are the vertical support beams.
2. Cut two 12 inch lengths from another 2 x 4 beam and sand them. Draw an ‘S’ shape on each board with the middle of the ‘S’ exactly in the middle of the board. These will be support brackets to the two vertical support beams, so the part the base of the ‘S’ that will be against the beam can curve gently, while the top of the ‘S’ can be almost a right angle. Cut out the ‘S’ shapes.
3. Measure 15 inches down from the top of the vertical support beams and make a pencil mark. Center the base of support bracket on this mark and fasten the skinny edge of the ‘S’ shape with a long wooden peg or wood screw. Repeat for the other bracket. This will create two curved holders will hold the top beam dowels. Fasten them to the tops of the vertical support beams.
4. Get a 1 ½ inch dowel and measure 4 inches from each end. Mark those spots with a pencil and then mark holes equally all down the dowel 2 inches apart and ¼ inch in diameter. This dowel can be as long as you want and it determines how wide the loom will be.
5. Get two more 1 ½ inch dowels and fasten them to the first dowel (with the holes) either with pegs, wood glue, small screws or even lashing with leather bands. The dowel with the holes needs to have the holes clear, and if you were to hold the three dowels together with the holed dowel on the bottom, the holes should be horizontal. The three dowels put together should form a triangular shape which will be the top beam. Place the top beam into the ‘S’ shaped brackets.
6. Now you will need to make brackets for the heddle rod. Get a 1 x 6 board and cut two 12 inch lengths. On one end of each piece cut a notch 2 inches deep and 2 inches wide in the center. Lean the loom (the vertical beams) up against the wall exactly as you will be using them.
7. Fasten these brackets to each vertical support beam on the side, so that the notch is sticking straight out. Put them at a height that is comfortable for your weaving. Make sure that the two brackets are exactly the same height.

8. Get a 1 ½ inch dowel for the heddle rod and cut it a couple inches longer than your top beam dowels. Set it either in the heddle rod bracket’s notches or on top of the heddle rod brackets, next to the vertical supports. Both positions are used during weaving. You can also tie leather thongs 1 inch apart down the length of the dowel which will prevent the threads from sliding together.
9. Use a 1 x 6 board to cut a length the same width as the loom. This is your shed rod and it is not moveable. It is fastened 2 ½ feet from the bottom of the vertical beams as a crosspiece. It is the only piece of wood that is attached to both vertical beams and holds them together. You could also fasten another beam at the top behind the top beams at the very back for greater strength.

How do I thread the loom?

1. First you have to make a heading band. Cut a warp thread as wide as the width of the item you are going to weave (but no wider than the loom of course).
2. Cut 23 more warp threads the same length as the first. Traditionally half the threads are a dark color, and half are a light color.
3. Get a rigid heddle about 4 inches wide. You can buy these or you could make one by cutting a rectangular piece of heavy cardboard or thin wood and cutting thin notches in it. It is like a comb but enclosed on all sides. In the center of each tooth of the comb put a hole called an ‘eye’.
4. Make a warping frame by getting two boards 4 feet long. Fasten them together to make a right-angle.
5. Get three 1 ½ inch dowels, one of them 2 feet long and the others 4 feet long. Lay the right-angle flat on the floor and fasten one of the 4 foot dowels straight from the center of the corner of the right angle.
6. Fasten the other 4 foot dowel at one end of the right angle, and the two foot dowel at the other end of the right angle 6 inches from the ends. Cut a deep notch a few inches from the top of both of the taller dowels.

7. Take the warp threads and thread them through the rigid heddle with the threads of one color through the notches and the threads of the other color through the eyes.
8. Gather the threads at one end, untangle them and tie them to the other end to make a loop. The loop should fit around the smaller dowel and the dowel in corner of the right angle.
9. Begin weaving by getting a long ball of yarn with enough thread on it to make your entire warp (that’s a big ball of yarn). Using the rigid heddle to separate the strands, pull the end of the ball of yarn through the gap in the thread (the shed), around the bottom of the far dowel (it has nothing on it at this point), and then up to the notch at the top of the dowel in the right-angle and tie it there.
10. The other end is now going to a ball of yarn which you can’t pull through the gap. Instead you pull a loop of yarn through the opposite threads than the ones you did previously, and again pull it around the far dowel and loop it around the notch at the top of the angle dowel.
11. Switch the threads with the heddle again, grab another loop and follow the same path and repeat. As you weave you will have to rotate the heading band around the dowels because the spot that you are working on needs to be facing down towards the far dowel.
12. As you rotate the heading band the loops around the angel dowel will make it impossible to turn it. Remove the loops and divide them into two sections (it doesn’t matter if they are mixed up). Tie each section into a very loose knot or ball to keep them untangled and out of the way.

13. When the heading band has been woven all the way around, take it off the warping frame and tie each end to the loom top beam, leaving the knots hanging down.

14. Using strong thread sew the heading band through the holes of the top beam. There are traditional ways to do this with a stitch sort of like a buttonhole stitch, but anything will work if it is secure.

15. Let all the knots or balls hang down towards the wall. Untie all the knots of the warp, and carefully separate and untangle them. Pull half of the threads over the bottom shed rod, being carefully to pull only every-other thread (don’t skip over two). Be careful not to bump them. You should now have two sections of threads, one hanging over the front of the bottom shed rod and one hanging in the back near the wall.
16. Carefully pull the warp threads tight and cut the loops at the bottom so that all the threads are the same length. Now you have to attach the threads to the weights. You must have enough weights to attach to 1 inch sections of threads for all the warp, and they all have to be 12 – 16 ounces (and all the same), and they can’t touch the floor. You can use soda cans full of sand, bags of sand or rocks, concrete disks, fired clay disks, or other materials. If you use disks with a large circle you can put a stick or dowel through them so they don’t swing all over.

17. Divide the warp into 1 inch sections and tie each section to a weight.
18. Using cotton cord or thread, you must tie the back warp (the threads hanging closest to the wall) to the heddle rod (the dowel near the middle of the loom). Put the heddle rod into its notch in the brackets.
19. Get a large ball of string or yarn. First tie the string around one end of the heddle rod. Pull one of the back warp threads through (the ones nearest the wall) until you have a large enough space behind it to put your hand. Loop the string around that warp thread, leaving enough loop to keep the warp sitting in that spot that leaves you enough room to put your hand, bring it under the heddle rod and up through the loop again and pull it tight (still leaving the loop to hold the warp).
20. Keep doing this until all the back warp threads have been brought through and tied with the heddle string. You will want to make each string loop the same length so that all of the warp will be pulled forward the same distance. If you have leather thongs around the heddle rod it will prevent the string from bunching up towards the center.

21. To make patterned cloth you can use 2 or more heddle rods and tie different intervals of the warp so that you can add different colors for each heddle rod.
22. The front warp that is sitting across the shed rod should be held with cord so that it does not get tangled. Using more of the string or yarn, tie a chain with a loop around each warp thread. First tie a loop at one end, bring the end up through the loop, make a loop around the warp thread, go up through the previous loop, loop around the next warp thread, and so on around all the threads.

How do I weave with a warp weighted loom?

1. Once you have gotten the warp set up on the loom, weaving is fairly simple. You will need a shuttle, a stick or a store-bought shuttle with the thread that you are going to weave with wrapped around it. This thread is called the weft.
2. You will also need a sword beater. This can be a yardstick or ruler, or a traditional sword-shaped piece of wood which is used to beat or push the weft tightly into place.
3. Hold one end of the weft with your left hand and feed the shuttle through the shed (the gap between the warp threads held by the heddle rod and the threads hanging over the shed rod) to your right.

4. Use the beater to push the weft thread up as far as it will go, but not so tight that the ends pull in past the outer warp threads.
5. Move the heddle rod from the notches and set it on top of the brackets right next to the vertical support beams. This will create another shed, but this time the warp threads leaning on the shed rod will be in front. Use your right hand to feed the shuttle through the shed.
6. Put the heddle rod in the notches and feed the shuttle through with your left hand. Beat it with your sword beater or yardstick anytime that the threads seem looser.
7. The goal is an even, tight weave, with straight outer edges. Most beginning weavers have a tendency to create hourglass-shaped weaving. This can be avoided by estimating how much the thread will tighten when it is beaten, and leaving a small amount of slack on the end. This skill only develops with practice.
8. As the fabric grows longer turn the top beam over, wrapping the fabric around it, and tighten the weights at the bottom until you run out of warp or the fabric is long enough.
9. Fringe or hem the bottom to prevent unraveling and wash it to shrink it.