Question for vegans? Would you eat eggs under these circumstances?

Vegans don't eat eggs. I'm a vegan, so no, I wouldn't eat them.

If you don't have a problem eating the eggs, then how are you betraying your values?

The person saying it depends why you're vegan is absolutely correct. I'm vegan primarily to boycott 'the industry' (its cruelty, its negative environmental impact, its general corruption; not individual farmers or workers within it or even the product itself) and only secondly for my own health. It's what happens to animal products during production and processing within the industry (industrialized farming) that contaminates them and makes them unhealthy, or not especially healthy, since there are no guarantees, for consumption.

so, I'd ask ~

How many chicken does she own? Five or six? Around twenty? Or, hundreds? Is she an actual producer, a farmer? If she's a farmer, is she independent or on contract with a big business? Is she organic?

Since I know she treats them well, as you say, if she owns less than twenty and cares for and feeds them organically OR is an independent farmer and cares for and feeds them organically, I'd eat the eggs. If it was meat or dairy (are eggs dairy? Not sure, but I mean milk products) I wouldn't make the exception. I'd love to care for chickens someday when I have the land, and would definitely eat the eggs they'd provided me.

If they meet my above criteria and you still don't feel right about eating them, be as sensitive as you can when you tell her about how eggs are processed on an industrial scale. Tell her about factory egg production. You don't even need to explain why you're against it at this point. Tell her her's *are* an exception, and you do appreciate the way she treats her chickens, but that eating them will get you wanting more and you never want to want to buy them from the grocery store.

If they don't meet it, e.g they're not organic, or she is on contract with a big, corrupt and destructive ruling production company (Hickman's, Dixie, Eggland's Best) that's why.

At the end of the conversation, no matter how it goes, tell her you love her. :-)

Thank you for being vegan.

Best of luck!! x

Well, I know one reason is that unless the hens are rescue hens, it's STILL supporting an industry that kills male chicks and only keeps the female hens for laying eggs. Many people have backyard chickens, and whether you raise the hens or get the hens from a free-range farmer, it's the same issue of how the male chicks in the same (I have no idea what it's called, litter?) are treated.

Plus, truly free range chickens eat bugs that are in the grass. So I'd be indirectly consuming insects that way. That icks me out so much.

It really depends on your morals. Many former vegans are ovo-vegetarians for exactly this reason. If you can't justify your reasonings to yourself, you have to ask whether or not it's worth making a big deal over.

Some vegans will simply state that they don't want to perpetuate the idea that eggs are OK to eat. Afterall, it started with free range chickens, and gradually came to factor farms. Another reason is that it's still commodification, since your grandmother had to buy them. The fact that the "owns" them and they aren't really considered family. (none of these are my reasons, but I've heard these reasons before)

I don't have a problem with it. I wouldn't eat them because I am vegan. But if people are going to eat eggs, that is definitely the most ethical way to do it. If you don't want to eat them, then that is fine. Not everybody is going to understand why, but the principle of veganism is to do with using nothing from animals if it can be avoided. The reason those eggs are unfertilised is because your gran prevents them from being fertilised by not allowing the chooks to mate or having too few roosters etc. They don't produce eggs for something else to eat, they produce eggs to reproduce. So the chooks are still being exploited, just in my mind this is the most reasonable of all forms of exploitation I have encountered and I think for people who eat eggs, this is the way to go.

It depends what you're comfortable with. I would not consider it bad to eat the eggs, and personally if I had a few pet chickens, or knew anyone who did, I'd be an ovo-vegetarian.

Because I'm against the slaughter of animals, and if I were to eat dairy & eggs they would have to be completely cruelty free, slaughter free and they would have to be treated with respect.

Of course I would never see meat as acceptable since you need to kill an animal to get the meat.

Think for yourself. It's fine to disagree with how some vegans view things, I know I do.

A potential life is delibrately denied in order to provide us with this food. In the case where the hens eggs wouldn't be fertilised anyway, you are still eating half a chicken embryo, would you eat a potential human embryo? No, so why should it be any different for chickens?

It's not the best arguement but it's still one.

I really don't see why not. This will always confuse me.

I have 13 free range chickens of my own.

Well they're my parents, they just have free range on our 1/4 acre back yard with our two dogs.

We don't have roosters so they're not fertilised, we're not killing anything by eating them.

They're the most tastiest eggs ever too. And eggs have a lot of goodness in them!! Especially free range.

I would never buy shop bought free range though, because you don't know how free range they are..

It all depends on why you are a vegan

Mine is because i can't eat anything thats come from an animal i don't like the thought of it and i don't like the way the animals are kept in farms but even if they were kept in my garden i couldn't as i just think its unatural but thats just me.

But someone i know whos a vegan and is one for green reasons and would eat the egg in your circumstances.

So it all depends on you and what makes you a vegan.

The thought of eating part of a chickens menstrual cycle grosses me out. Besides that, I have never been a fan of eggs my whole life. The only kind of eggs I ever liked were deviled eggs.

So for me, giving up eggs was no problem.

If I lived on a farm, and the chickens ran free and ate real food, and the eggs would go to waste anyway, than I would eat them. But I wouldn't eat them too often due to the cholesterol.

eggs that u eat are never fertilized, so no matter how long or well kept you keep them, they will never actually have life. on the other hand it is an animal byproduct because it came from a live chicken. its ur call, but i dont see a problem with it

I'm a vegan for the health reasons, so I wouldn’t eat them but, that’s not saying its wrong that’s just my personal choice.

I would say its completely up to you, you make a solid point that the animals are well taken care of and not limited to the commercial birdfeed and what not. If you are comfortable with eating them by all means go ahead and don’t let the cry baby peta freaks make you feel bad for you decision.

Your body, Your Choice.