A question about eggs for vegans and vegetarians...?

Question

Another question I read this morning got me to thinking about eggs.
I keep going back and forth on eggs. I used to want to raise my own hens but I keep finding reasons to not do that (cholesterol being the main one, plus I hear hens freak out when you take their eggs, even the unfertilized ones). It would be nice to raise chickens, though. I hear they're very smart and they could eat my kitchen scraps and help keep bugs down in my garden and the birds I kept wouldn't be raised for food so I could be doing a good thing...I just don't know. And then, see, a big reason for eliminating animal products from my diet is because I find them unnatural for humans to consume (it's silly to think that in nature humans would seek out other animals to suckle from, for example) but eggs do seem like something that humans might gather and eat in the wild. I need to mull it over more. I am so confused!
I'd appreciate some arguements and information for both hen trauma, human health, etc.
Thanks!

Very good advice and viewpoints so far. Thank you! I should have mentioned that I have never liked eggs as a food by themselves, like omlettes or hard boiled. If I were to use them in cooking it would be in baked goods mostly.
I wonder if anyone has any other info they could point me to that is REPUTABLE in regards to the health aspect of eating eggs. How much cholesterol do you have to ingest before it starts affecting you. Is one or two eggs a week enough to really make a difference or, as with milk proteins, is just a little bit enough to negatively effect your health?

Michael and others who have experience with chickens:
I know you can't just leave your chickens to roam free in the garden all the time, but I had heard that if you let them roam around in there a few times a week they'd eat the bugs. No?

Answer 1

well.. the cholesterol is a big factor, you are right.

I've known alot of people with chickens (as pets) so there are two types of hens.

Those that "set" and those that "don't"

the people I know have roosters, so the eggs are fertilized. But still.. alot (actually, the great majority of them that I've seen) of the hens don't "set" on the eggs, so they just spoil.. these hens could care less if you take their eggs.. In fact one of my friends knows for a fact that if she doesn't gather the eggs, a snake that lives in their yard gets them. They just lay them and then go about their merry way.

So keep that in mind. It's not "mean" to the hens to take their eggs away from them, if you have a "non-setter."

Conversely a "setter" will stay on her nest and not budge. You'd DEFINITELY know the difference.. And you wouldn't be able to gather the eggs easily..

Now I can't help you as to how you'll know if a hen "sets" on her eggs or not before buying her.

Either way, an UNFERTILIZEd egg is just going to rot, even if the hen sits on it.

My advice is this... Find some local farmers who raise chickens and eggs. Ask them if you can buy a couple hens that don't set on their eggs. (If they are trying to raise more chickens, they may be more than glad to get rid of a couple hens that won't hatch their eggs!!) Then take them home away from roosters, and eat the unfertilized eggs in careful moderation if you want. (keeping in mind the high cholesterol) Maybe you wanna get a pet snake to help you eat all the eggs LOL.. (halfway joking here)

Ashley- IF your questions and answers weren't blocked, ANYONE could judge and see that I (BTW it's SHELLY) am usually trying to be helpful and give good, non-extreme advice, and that you are a pathetic troll.. And I've never claimed to be vegan, unlike you, I don't claim to be that which I am not!

Answer 2

I had the same problem as you... my parents are going to be keeping hens when they move to the country and I was wondering whether it would be ok for me (morally speaking) to eat the eggs. I've convinced them to get rescue hens and I know they'd be cared for but in the end I decided against eating them. I decided they were unhealthy anyway and the whole reason why these rescue hens would have suffered is exactly for their egg laying. They've been looked at as machines and I wouldn't want to eat the cause for why they suffered in the past. I don't really see eggs as a food option anymore. Those are just my feelings though and I know I look into things a lot... if you think differently then I don't see any reason apart from health issues why you shouldn't eat them. You'll be giving them a good home and not just keeping them for their eggs.

I would urge you to get a rescue hen though because otherwise, you'll be supporting the industry and the killing of male birds. Don't keep a male with the females if it isn't neutered because that would just result in more chicks and there are already plenty that need good homes.

Answer 3

Well, I am a formerly egg-consuming lacto vegetarian and I think you need to find what works best for you. There's certainly nothing wrong with rearing your own hens for bug control as long as you don't put down the hens when they fall ill or something (pet peeve of mine, I'd rather let an animal die naturally because I don't think it's our place to judge when and how an animal should die, even if it's wasting away).

Of course, don't get a rooster!

And I saw someone on this forum say that hens don't care about unfertilized eggs being taken away. So, I don't know. That's the focal point, I guess. You might want to research that further.
BTW, why stop at hens? You could look into rescuing ducks and geese (or rearing them if you can't find any to rescue) and they are even better at bug control.

And then you might want to get a big but gentle guard dog if you live in an area with coyotes. Or put up an 8 ft fence.

And you also have to watch out for hawks and cats.

Answer 4

I'm a vegan (newly, I've been vegetarian for years) but I want to answer this question from a chicken farming point of view.
I grew up on a small hobby farm, as did my boyfriend. Neither of us would ever have suggested that chickens are upset by the removal of their eggs. However, I think it is valuable to decide where you get your chickens from in the first place. My boyfriend's chickens are "rescued" from chicken producers when they select which chickens aren't worthy of shipping to Mapleleaf, etc. I like this approach, as these are chickens that would have been pointessly killed otherwise that are now able to roam around outside.

As a vegan though, I still have dilemnas about eating these eggs for the same reason you do (I don't for now, as I'd rather just cut absolutely everything out). I really don't like the argument - "people have been eating meat since caveman days", etc. People have been doing a lot of things for what seems like a long time, and that doesn't make it ethical.

I'd say the main moral issue comes from where you get the chickens... (especially since farming isn't natural, so you might not want to encourage extra breeding)

Answer 5

I'm sure you would not be considered a vegetarian if you eat eggs and definitely not a vegan. If you raise your own hens and allow them to freely roam, it is not subjecting them to the industry's animal cruelty of small pens, feeding hormones, and removing beeks.
Years ago, eggs were considered evil in regards to being cholesterol laden. But it is not so much the egg that is adding cholesterol to one's diet as the butter or oil that it is cooked in. Anne Louise Gittleman says that "eggs contain one of the highest-quality proteins available in any food...the yolk is an excellent source of vitamin A...and adults can enjoy at least two eggs a day without increasing their serum cholesterol level."
If you decide that eggs are definitely not something you want to consume, you might consider goats for the kitchen scraps. You could drink the goats milk. And try lady bugs for the other pests.

Answer 6

Firstly, hens will eat your garden, not just the bugs. Flowers, bulbs, seeds, the lot.

Hens do not seem to care if you take eggs as far as I can tell.

Its illegal ( in the UK ) to give hens scraps ( even vegetarian ones ) from the kitchen. No idea why, but thats the new law as of 2006

I'm veggie, we keep freerange hens, i've no quarms about it at all. Happy to help with more specifc advice if you want it, email me.

If you plan on hatching yourown, be prepared to know what to do with the cockerals.

If you buy sexed chicks from a breeder, know that they will kill the cockerals, do you want to support that ? Rescues are best

Answer 7

I don't eat eggs because they do not belong to me. I have no idea if the chicken consents and she and her eggs are not my property.

There is value to following a vegan lifestyle. It gives veganism legitimacy and shows the world that you can be healthy and happy and not consume any products from an animal. Vegan baked goods taste wonderful and you don't need to worry about getting sick from the raw egg if you want a taste of the batter. :)

Humans might gather and eat all kinds of things in the wild if it was necessary for their survival. Luckily we aren't in the situation and I don't think we should take an egg from a chicken to eat it. The thought of it is so gross... Ick.

Answer 8

I'm lacto ovo. I don't see any problem with keeping your own chickens if you want eggs. If they are treated well, they will be living a much better life than they ever would have in the factory farming system.

But I have to say it would be nuts to keep a chicken in the house. I was raised on a farm.

Answer 9

Ethical veganism (as opposed to people who are on vegan DIETS for health reasons) exists because of objections to the way factory farm animals are treated.


But, as a vegan, I wouldn't have any objection if eggs from a pet hen were eaten, as long as she was treated very well. (And for me, that means living n the house and eating with all my other animals, lol)

Answer 10

vegans do not eat or use anything from an animal. Period!

I don't understand why you consider it unnatural to eat animal products? Humans have been consuming meat since the caveman days.