Vegans, why might it be wrong to eat no kill free range eggs?

Question

Before you assume I don't eat them myself. Personally even if I ate meat I still would eat egg. I think them a bit gross.

However on an ethical level it seems it is possible to eat eggs and not cause suffering on any other level including the environment. You can always feed chickens scraps and limit your intake of them.

Answer 1

From an ethical standpoint, I see your argument and I cannot argue against it. Consuming an egg from a no-kill, free range farm doesn't really harm anything.

But from a health standpoint, the white is nothing but cholesterol and the yolk is nothing but fat. That's why I wouldn't consume it. I am vegan for *both* ethical and health reasons.  

Of course, the obvious reason is that as a vegan, I don't eat anything that comes from an animal!

(but I know what you mean in asking your question)

Answer 2

Hello.

Eggs, as many people do not know -even vegans-, do not always have an unborn life in them. The daily eggs that are produced by chickens do not have any new life in them. They are just plain eggs. But some of them do have.

I, however, refuse to eat eggs because the chickens are treated like objects, rubbish, things and live in the worst environment you can imagine. Watch the video on www.meat.org and see what is really behind your McDonald's or Burger King burger or your even "home-made burgers" and eggs.

Answer 3

Flesh Foods are Flesh Foods. Pain and suffering aren't the only reasons to not eat something. Vegans and Vegetarians respect life  Unborn chickens (eggs -- even infertile ones)  still embody the life force. Remember Peter Tompkins book The  Secret Life of Plants where the plants registered shock and dismay whenever the author broke open an egg for his dog! .

.If you do not eat honey, or wear leather -- even from animals who have died of natural causes (as they do in India where several industries rely on leather from such animals) then how can you even entertain the idea of eating eggs free range fertile or infertile or not? Makes no sense.

Answer 4

By definition Vegans don't eat any animal products. I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian, so I eat eggs. I see no problem with eating eggs from hens that are well cared for. Eggs we eat are not fertilized, so they would go to waste if not eaten.  

BTW: all use girls produce an egg a month too. They are not unborn children, since they were never fertilized, the same goes for chicken eggs.

Answer 5

ethically,  you're right.. if the chicken was TRULY free range, if the eggs were unfertilized, then there would be nothing ethically wrong with it..  you raise a very good questions..

There's just a couple points I'd like to bring up, though..

Eggs LABELED free range don't necessarily mean the chicken is living the way you picture in your mind.. You better know what is required to get the "free range" label before you trust it.

so that's one ethical consideration, now for a couple Health considerations

1. You don't know how  healthy the chicken is, or what it's fed.. So, healthwise, the eggs might still not be the best thing for you to eat. Eating eggs from chickens that are fed ground up chickens or chicken manure, or tons of hormones, probably isn't a safe thing, health-wise

These problems can be solved by eating only free range eggs that YOU raise or someone you know. (Like my friend has 4 pet hens that live happily in her back yard. Ethically, nothing much wrong with eating those eggs.. Except she  has a rooster, so the eggs are fertilized (but the hens are not "setters") Personally, I would like to do something similar, but wouldn't have the rooster...

2. also, healthwise, eggs are high in cholesterol, and should be eaten with EXTREME moderation..

ONE OTHER THING THOUGH...  just as I ask people to respect the definition of "Vegetarian" by not taking that label if they eat any meat such as fish, I also think Vegans deserve the respect of people not taking the "label" of "Vegan" if they eat eggs, no matter how ethically produced.. because such a person simply would not fit the definition of "Vegan"  Just as a fish-eater doesn't fit the definition of "Vegetarian"

so that's something to keep in mind.

Answer 6

Vegans don't eat eggs...cages or no cages.

Also there are no regulations that say what a free range chicken's environment is like.  Cage free could mean they are piled on top of each other in a shed with a little porch that only one chicken can fit onto.

Once again Vegan's don't eat animal products.

Answer 7

I don't go for the label of vegan or vegetarian but eat with sensibility and without animal abuse. I fall into no category but my own. As for eggs, I choose free range and organic fed and may be attempting my own soon to supply my small need. Eggs are produced fertile or not with no regard to roosters. Though roosters are culled from the flock early for meat or just destroyed, that makes for a bad situation hence my desire to raise my own. I would probably eat some of my own free range chickens as well as eggs. Or not as I choose, but I made an attempt to do the right thing. God granted us leave to husband the earth and her life and when done with care and concern it is as it should be. We all make our choices and such are mine. Also with regard to eggs, there are a great many recipes that require them and they are a good balance of cholesterol (important) and protein.

Answer 8

I know a former organic / free range egg farmer. She said that she had to slaughter her hens every 15 months because that is when their egg production typically declines. It's not economically viable for farms to "retire" spent hens, because it would cost too much to feed the animals until their natural deaths.

There's also still the issue of the male chicks. Male chicks don't produce eggs, so they're commonly suffocated or thrown into grinders while still alive. This is true of "free range" egg hatcheries.

No inspection system exists for companies that label their eggs “free-range.” The label is often used to deceive consumers. If someone adopts a rescued chicken or runs a sanctuary for rescued chickens, I think it would be ethical to eat those eggs because the hens won't be slaughtered (and it wouldn't support the hatcheries). In all other cases though, there is no such thing as a "no kill" free range egg farm to my knowledge.

Also:

There are 340 million chickens raised for their eggs in the U.S. every year. The vast majority of these birds are confined to factory farms. Would it be possible to raise 340 million animals without intensive confinement? Probably not. I think large areas of land would have to be cleared to allow hens to freely roam, so it would have a negative impact on the environment.

"If intensive confinement operations were banned, it's highly unlikely producers could supply an entire nation of 300 million meat-, egg-, and dairy consumers with enough animal products to sustain the typical American diet. So...from a practical perspective, completely humane farming and slaughtering methods aren't possible."

http://www.cok.net/lit/freerange.php

Answer 9

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

I stated in the past question that  you asked that I would eat an egg if it came to absolute necessity if it came from a farmer like Michael H.  When I answered I had the very argument that you stated in mind.  As long as the egg is unfertilized and the  layer hens live to their natural age in good health there doesn't seem to be that big of boon in  it.  I definitely wouldn't eat a  lot of them because  it can elevate cholesterol. In fact, I myself cannot  eat yolks.  I would only be able to eat the white part because yolks nauseate me.  Someone else would have to make use of the other part.

I still maintain that holding bees captive to harness honey effects more species  in the environment overall because so many rodents like rabbits, moles, golfers, prairie dogs, etc. depend on insects to polinate the vegetables that they eat. If the bees aren't free to do what's natural to them and half of them die due to CCD, it's a threat to the circle of life.

To be clear I donot consume eggs but in the case of a severe famine or emergency I think eating a free-range, organic, unfertilized, kill-free egg like one from Michael H.  is much more ethical than any other animal product you could choose to eat.

Answer 10

Thats actually a good point. Because the only reason i can think to not eat eggs is how they are killed after. I am an ovo-vegetarian which i think is quite rare because i eat eggs but not milk. I only eat free range eggs but have thought about giving them up because they still get killed for meat after, however i expect i will end up giving up eggs one day.  

I do think what you have suggested is ethical and i would eat them. but, i have not heard of any companies who sell no-kill free range eggs... i don't see how that would work because once the chickens stop laying eggs the company would have to pay to keep them alive - i don't think a business would be able to make much money from this. You could have your own chickens though i suppose.

Thanks for raising this point, i had never really thought about it

Answer 11

It is a product of animals.  An egg, in essence, is an unborn chicken.  I'm not a vegan or a vegitarian and it's obvious to even me.

Answer 12

Looking at it slightly the other way around, eggs are the only thing i eat that makes me vegetarian and not vegan.

I see hens every day, they are totally free to roam our fields, lay eggs, dust bath, foraige, sunbathe etc. If they don't lay, fair enough, they will still get food and water. If they stop laying completely, fair enough, they will be left to retire and life "at ours" for 10 years.

Having watched hens go about thier business and lay eggs, i KNOW that if the hen isn't broody, she will not sit on the eggs and see them through to hatching. They will be left in the hedgerow to rot.

When our hens go broody, they are left alone. They abandon the eggs after 21 days ( because they are not fertilised ) and then we chuck them away. ( the eggs, not the hen ;-)

It is not possible however, to get non-cruelty eggs from any commercial source. Whether it be free range, organic or whatever other label people want to put on the boxes. There will always be the culling of low-production hens and all the cockerals.

And, of course, even if you keep your own hens as we do, you have to figure out how the hens got to your place without cockeral being killed. Its pretty impossible unless you house rescued hens or have the space to take on the cockerals as well.

Several of the above answers say there is no standards or inspection system for free-range. In the UK there is, and its terrible - its means nothing. I can point you to 2 of Sainsbury's "freerange" egg farms and they are appauling.

Answer 13

I own 4 free range hens.. for eggs...did you know eating eggs from free range hens actually SAVES animals?

think of it this why.. how many animals are killed or displaced to grow SOY???? must be millions right? (tiny bugs, mice, rabbits, deer, moose) maybe BILLIONS every year...

so by eating free range eggs ( which are NOT gross) you save lives..

also if you have no rooster there is no baby birds in the eggs.. I do not have a rooster.. maybe thats what you think is gross.. - try them scrambled...

if you have enough hens you can share your excess eggs.. thus saving some hens suffering in battery cages..

Answer 14

Eating eggs - even the happiest, most cruelty-free eggs on earth - perpetuates the myth that animals and their excretions are ours to take and consume.

As a vegan, I don't buy into that myth.  I believe that exploitation of animals, regardless of the presence or absence of cruelty, is wrong - period.  Furthermore, there is no substantial nutritional value in eggs that makes them essential for human survival.  On the contraty, they're a source of saturated fat and cholesterol.

To answer yours second question: If the chickens are laying eggs, that means they're all female.  If there are no male chickens in the environment, no eggs will be fertilized and thus no baby chicks will ever be created.

Answer 15

years ago both my husband and I were raised on farms, we are veggie today. We are planning ($) on moving to TX someday. and I plan to have a garden, a chicken coop, and a couple goats...just because I have been in town too many years and would like to try it again...

don't know if they will become food or not, but will try to be free range...

Answer 16

I know, it's dumb. An egg isn't an unborn chicken unless it's fertilized. Chickens produce eggs even if there is no rooster. The eggs people buy at stores at fertilized. If people didn't eat them, all those eggs would go in the trash. What's the issue?

Answer 17

That's interesting. That's basically the only ethically produced animal product I can think of. I too, wouldn't eat them but mainly for health reasons. I don't particularly like all the cholesterol in eggs or the taste. but I don't see the ethical harm in no-kill free range eggs. As long as there is a guarantee that the hens were not killed after there "productivity drops" and they have access to plenty of shelter, open space and a healthy happy life. then I consider it an ethical and environmentally sound alternative.

yep I know it's not vegan. but if people are gona eat eggs they may as well eat more ethical ones.