Backyard rescue hens

[PrincessPeach]

What do you think?

Are eggs from backyard rescued hens vegan?

Personally, if I had rescue hens and they were producing eggs, I wouldn't want to see them rot. But at the same time, I think they could be better served by giving them to neighbors (or selling them to neighbors at a lower cost than supermarket eggs, and put the money in a jar for the hens), to displace battery cage eggs. The opportunity cost of eating them myself would mean somebody else is eating eggs derived from cruelty.

However, I won't call somebody who has a rescue hen and eats the eggs non-vegan.


This has been a pretty big point of debate- even among vegans.

Where do you stand? Maybe we can start some internal discussion over this one.

Which position is really vegan? Or are there multiple valid views on this?

I'd say that the person who ate rescued hen eggs went vegetarian for a day I'd say for that day they couldn't tell everyone that they are vegan they'd have to call themselves a vegetarian if any one asked!
Here in FL hen eggs are only allowed to be sold for 'dog' consumption because if not properly taken care they run the risk of carrying infectious and deadly diseases..
The biggest part of being vegan IMO is to help prevent disease & the spread of disease's . You unknowingly could be giving people rotten or diseased eggs.

[brimstoneSalad]

In case it hasn't been said yet, if you hold the opinion that collecting the eggs laid by backyard hens is a harmless activity you are at least operating in ignorance of hen welfare and at worst you are lying to yourself.

My understanding is that it depends on whether the hens are broody or not.

I suggest getting to know vegans who rescue chickens and talk to them about chicken welfare. The FB group Vegans with Chickens would be a great resource.

If you know some, could you invite them here to share their views?

[PrincessPeach]

I know, right? Chicken menses. Not something I'm super interested in eating, knowing what it is and where it comes from.

Not that there's anything wrong with chickens in particular; I wouldn't eat human menses either. And not that there's anything "gross" or shameful about menstruation. ...It's just not something I see as food.

UGH!! WRONG WRONG WRONG!

Menses happen's because a woman's egg wasn't fertilized and her uterus shed's it lining to prepare for the next egg in hopes of fertilization thus a new cycle begins..

Hen's lay egg's every 30+ hours or so regardless of fertilization because they have no control over those hormones.

Eggs=Embryo's= not anything close to menses.

The shell of the egg acts as the womb and all of the nutrients for the chick to be born are in the yolk (you could compare this to the colostrum that mammals get before the milk comes in) When chick's are born they need no outside nutrient's from mom because they got everything they needed from the egg.. (now of course they need mom to feed/show them how to get worms ect)
When a human is born they get the nutrients from mom both inside and outside of the womb.

[brimstoneSalad]

There's no exact comparison between mammalian and avian ovulation and reproduction, since things work a little differently. I would consider the term "close enough" unless you have a better one.

An egg is not an embyro unless it is fertilized.

[PrincessPeach]

There's no exact comparison between mammalian and avian ovulation and reproduction, since things work a little differently. I would consider the term "close enough" unless you have a better one.

An egg is not an embyro unless it is fertilized.

You are confused fertilization does not need to take place for a hen to have an egg.
Most egg's from hens are unfertilized that part doesn't matter.
What matters is if the egg is properly incubated to grow the chick, once the the shell of the egg is formed all the parts to start life are there to make the chick grow.
The egg yolk (embryo) of an egg has all the nutrients that the chick needs to grow inside the egg with out any help from mom all the egg needs to grow is to be properly incubated.

It's really the exact opposite of what mammals go through..
When a mammal has a baby they live inside the mother in the womb and get all the nutrients from mom everyday until they are born and once they are born they then get first the colostrum from their mother's tit for the first few feedings (varies with species and individuals) then after the colostrum is gone ( which provides the baby with all of the nutrients it needs ) the milk flow then comes in and the amount of milk the mother will make will depend exactly on how much the baby needs. The more the baby nurses the more milk producing hormones are stimulated...
Now mind you when mammals have children they lose their monthly periods because they are no longer producing egg's because that hormone production has stopped.

I guarantee you if you took the chicken coupe and nest away from rescue hen's and just let them run around free they wouldn't produce as many eggs as they would if they had a nest and coupe.(it's not like they can fly over fences or anything) The nest and coupe triggers the hen's hormones and says "All of my surroundings are in the right place it's time to have a baby" Their body's tell them when to have egg's ..
Google 'why my parrot laid an egg'

Human's and primate's are the only species that get 'menses' or a monthly flow every month we are the only animals that have our brains tell us when it is time to mate..

Actually during a woman's period is the time she is least hormonal the reason woman get PMS (emphasis on pre)
Woman start menses when they get their period and it last the entire month menses is more than just a period.
A woman is most hormonal 2 weeks before her period and that is because that is when she ovulates, or eggs are released into her ovaries.

Eggs are embryo's not periods, period.
Egg's are produced from hormones.
A period happens because a woman's egg wasn't fertilized, hen's make egg's too fertilized or not I guess you could say it is the same because everything inside the egg would be everything that would be inside the woman's womb and the egg is the womb so the egg could be compared to eating everything that is inside of the a human's womb and seeing as the uterus sheds every thing it prepared in it's womb for her egg each month because the egg hasn't been fertilized and the body is now making room for a new egg to develop..

[brimstoneSalad]

Assuming that I am misunderstanding something is usually not the most fruitful thing to do.

em·bry·o
ˈembrēˌō / noun
1. an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development.
synonyms: fetus, fertilized egg, unborn child/baby, zygote
"a human embryo"

A period happens because a woman's egg wasn't fertilized, hen's make egg's too fertilized or not I guess you could say it is the same because everything inside the egg would be everything that would be inside the woman's womb and the egg is the womb so the egg could be compared to eating everything that is inside of the a human's womb and seeing as the uterus sheds every thing it prepared in it's womb for her egg each month because the egg hasn't been fertilized and the body is now making room for a new egg to develop..

Correct. As I said, it's a semantic question, but it's the most accurate comparison (that I know of) that can be made given the biological differences at hand. They certainly aren't perfect parallels, but in terms of function, it's 'close enough', and the term is both rhetorically useful, and conducive to at least a crude understanding of what's going on.

[PrincessPeach]

Correct. As I said, it's a semantic question, but it's the most accurate comparison (that I know of) that can be made given the biological differences at hand. They certainly aren't perfect parallels, but in terms of function, it's 'close enough', and the term is both rhetorically useful, and conducive to at least a crude understanding of what's going on.

So compare it to an embryo not a period..

Ta-dah.


Here are some horrible pro-life pictures to support my theory! LMFAO







That egg yolk looks kinda familiar huh?

[PrincessPeach]

em·bry·o
ˈembrēˌō / noun
1. an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development.
synonyms: fetus, fertilized egg, unborn child/baby, zygote
"a human embryo"

Hen's create egg's regardless of fertilization so how would one tell the differece between an unfertilized hen egg and an unfertilized hen egg, oh that is right you wouldn't find out until you incubate the egg... So yes eating eggs= eating embryos.

[PrincessPeach]

em·bry·o
ˈembrēˌō / noun
1. an unborn or unhatched offspring in the process of development.
synonyms: fetus, fertilized egg, unborn child/baby, zygote
"a human embryo"

Hen's create egg's regardless of fertilization so how would one tell the differece between a fertilized hen egg and an unfertilized hen egg, oh that is right you wouldn't find out until you incubate the egg... So yes eating eggs= eating embryos.

[garrethdsouza]

One idea I recently came across regarding what to do with the unfertilized eggs,

Cook them and feed them to the hens themselves! It is edible and I know that's what some vegans have done. You aren't killing any sentient so its not unethical, and you don't need to consume it nor sell it to other folks. (Though selling it to others who do consume eggs might lower the demand for unethically produced eggs).