I have known people who have watched movies such as Meet Your Meat, or read pamphlets about factory farming, and made the decision to only buy “humane” meat, dairy, and/or eggs. One problem that arises, though - beyond the fact that most “humane” farms are anything but! - is that most people will not buy the free-range version ALL the time. For one thing, these products are extremely expensive - and right next to them are the government-subsidized, conventional versions for a mere fraction of the cost. Also, when these people go out to dinner, do they inquire as to the source of the eggs and cheese that went into their omelet? Or the beef that went into their taco? Do they only buy pre-packaged frozen dinners and canned soups if they are assured that they have only “humane” animal products in them? Do they buy these free-range versions with vigor at first, but over time do they realize that they are too expensive and start making exceptions so that they can stay on their budget?

The slope is just too slippery. It is just easier to be a vegan. You don’t have to worry how the animals you are eating were treated before slaughter, how much sunlight they had, whether they were stunned properly before they were killed, or whether a mother cow mourned for her calf so that you could eat that piece of cheese. And as a bonus you don’t have to wonder if there is fecal matter in your chicken or hormones in your milk! Sounds like a win-win situation to me.

My husband and I have always gone to Moosewood for our anniversary. (Not that their food was outstanding or anything, but it was a bit of a tradition.) We will never go again.

If you need more than what ryan and mike have provided, I suggest going to “The Free-Range Myth” at http://www.peacefulprairie.org/freerange1.html

This does a great job, in my opinion, of educating regarding all of the issues, some of which many people aren’t aware of, regarding eggs (such as what happens to the males chicks and to spent hens, as ryan mentions).

I find that eggs are the animal product most people know the least about, and I think it’s great that you’re thinking about this important topic. I know plenty of people who consider themselves animal rights activists who still eat eggs. They simply don’t understand the entire picture, and most national animal rights organizations aren’t lining up to educate them, believe it or not.

Mike put it simplest: “consuming even the most ethically-produced egg is an endorsement of the whole enterprise of animal abuse.” I would add, though, that I’m not sure I believe in an ethically-produced egg, as that egg was made possible by a series of factors that aren’t ethical, and the hen’s life is likely to not end well.

I think Mike hit the nail on the head. The point you mention at the end is one of the key issues as to why vegans don’t consume eggs: because it does directly contribute to the death of the chickens once they’re spent, even on the farms where they are the most well-treated.

Also:

taking into consideration that if all the eggs were left to hatch, we’d be awash in unwanted chickens, how is my eating those eggs a bad thing?

This is incorrect in that only the fertilized eggs would hatch — chickens continue to lay eggs whether or not they’re fertilized. What farm sanctuaries will often do is leave one or two eggs around for the chickens to sit on for a few days (no longer because you can’t really tell between the fertilized and unfertilized eggs). They’ll gather the rest of the eggs and either feed them back to the chickens (lots of good nutrients for them) or sometimes put the eggs out in the woods for the foxes, which helps keep the foxes from coming onto the farm.

In rare cases, you may be able to get eggs from a chicken that isn’t killed (like one you raise, for instance), but using the chicken’s eggs still reinforces this idea that the chickens are there for our use. We’re using something of theirs (indeed, something that they themselves can get use out of) when it’s just not necessary.

Hopefully that gives you the answers you’re looking for.

May I attempt a serious answer to your question?

You asked why eating eggs from humanely-raised chickens is a bad thing. It is, perhaps, telling that you end your post with an aside about being a meat-eater and therefore disagreeing with vegetarians about what to do with layer hens who are past their laying years. That aside hits on what is, for me, one of the essential reasons its wrong to eat eggs: its part-and-parcel of the animal abuse package.

An aside of my own: I don’t drink. I don’t drink because too many people _do_ drink. Although I have never been a drinker, my not drinking was never a specific reaction to any particular circumstance. I just thought that abstaining was the best thing to do, given how big a problem alcohol is for so many people. I didn’t want to be part of that. Years and years after I decided I would not drink, my father nearly died of a stroke induced by, among other things, a lifetime of too many rum-and-cokes. Now he is off the drink for good (we hope) and my tee-totaling is helping to set a good example for him. He sees that I can live a full, fun life without booze. I don’t think drinking alcohol is morally wrong or that, if I did it, I would abuse it. But even my responsible drinking would be an endorsement, at some level, of other peoples’ irresponsible drinking. Instead, my tee-totaling is an endorsement of moderation, sobriety, and good health.

So, about your eggs. Given your circumstances, it doesn’t seem like you’re committing a grave ethical error by eating eggs. But the problem is, you _are_ committing a grave ethical error by killing and eating animals. So what if you stopped killing and eating animals? I think you would then see that eating animal ova is (a) unnecessary and (b) feeds into the widespread view of animals as products, as objects outside the sphere of serious moral concern. You would see, I think, that consuming even the most ethically-produced egg is an endorsement of the whole enterprise of animal abuse. What about your friends in cities who can’t get eggs from a neighbouring farm? By eating eggs, you are, in a way, endorsing their consumption of eggs produced under very different circumstances. If you can eat eggs, why shouldn’t they be allowed? It’s not _their_ fault there’s no neighbouring farm (they might claim).

Let me put it another way, since I sense I am not being very convincing. If you _didn’t_ eat eggs, you would be sending the message that you do not support the cruel methods used to produce _most_ eggs. When you went into the city, you would not be tempted to buy grocery-store eggs, and thereby support cruel egg producers. Your act of abstention would serve as a focal point, drawing attention to the plight of layer hens. *You* (average omnivores) know about the cruelties inflicted upon layer hens because *we* (vegans) loudly proclaim our intention not to eat them.

Another reason that eating eggs is wrong is that killing and eating chickens is wrong so, unless you intend to support the care, in their post-laying years, of the hens which produce your eggs, you’re killing chickens by eating eggs. Of course, that argument only flies if you agree that eating chickens is wrong.

Does that help?

I’ve been lurking here for the last year or so (because my last attempt at conversation went so well) but wanted to chime in with two things:

First, agreement about the article being lame (and I’m an omnivore). The title was stupidly inflammatory (not to mention oxymoronic) and it went downhill from there. I don’t know what the point was but nobody I have talked to about it liked it. Not a one.

Secondly, I have a question about eggs.

I get all of my eggs from a friend’s chickens. The chickens are actually free range pastured (not locked in a box with a door they are scared to use) and seem pretty happily chicken-like in their daily life. They came from another tiny local farm, where many generations of its ancestral chickens have happily pecked in the orchard for decades. No business larger than two people involved at any point along the way. (even the feed is grown locally and mixed by another local farmer)

Takes about 2 food miles to get them here - and we’re usually over there a bit anyway so they don’t even count much. So I am paying attention to all aspects of my little carbon footprints.

To play off Rachel’s comment, this is the antithesis of “…breed them, keep them in poor living conditions, then slaughter them ruthlessly.”

Given that the eggs are not yet sentient (to whatever degree chickens can be called that, which is an argument I am not getting into) and taking into consideration that if all the eggs were left to hatch, we’d be awash in unwanted chickens, how is my eating those eggs a bad thing?

This is a serious question and I’d appreciate a serious answer. I understand that, what with my being an omnivore and all, we will disagree with what to do with the chickens after they are no longer laying, but for now…how about those eggs?

But that’s me.

Michael Natkin
The Vegetarian Foodie Blog