Eggs

[ledboots]

UK ones are brown, the white ones look to me like they've been produced in a lab Never heard of blue or green eggs coming from a chicken, though.

They are pretty, like pastel blue and green. My coworker called hers Easter Egg hens, but it is a certain breed that lays them.

 

[KLS52]

I visited a butterfly sanctuary once...they had Guinea hens running around and occasionally they would sell some of their eggs. I bought six for my hubby. I think they were brown...mostly I remember them being really small. They were cute.

 

[RabbitLuvr]

When I still ate eggs, I always bought the brown ones. The white eggs look gross to me.

 

[Alice-Bee]

White Eggs in the UK are more associated with Duck eggs. At least in my experience.

Im still in the process of cutting eggs out of my diet but I dont eat full eggs if that makes sence, so to me they are just chicken periods and a full egg grosses me out.
If I had my own hen I wouldnt eat the eggs, Id give them to my omni family/friends.

 

[mlp]

Araucanas are one species of chicken which lay blue-green eggs:



I think some of the rarer *heritage* chicken species also lay eggs of colors other than brown or white.

If I weren't afraid of having rooster-on-rooster aggression problems, I'd have more chickens. There are almost always roosters in rescue, but rarely hens. The rescue from which I adopted Captain Snuggles says they have many roosters co-existing peacefully, but I can't take the risk, especially not with the Captain fully de-beaked and relatively defenceless.

 

[Pickle Juice]

Chickens don't just lay hundreds of eggs a year because that is what chickens do naturally. They have been genetically altered from birds who only lay one or two clutches of a dozen eggs a year to what we see now.

I find it unethical to benefit from the artificial genetic manipulation of generations of birds. The people who did this to them didn't do it with their health and well being in mind, they did it to turn once wild birds into industrial egg producing units for the sole purpose of serving human interest, and thus their systems are not equipped to produce such vast volumes of "waste" without exhausting them.

Imagine your state of health if you were a menstruating woman who bled 300 days of the year?

That's why to me the only ethical and moral "use" for eggs laid by rescued hens is to feed them back to the hens to replenish lost nutrients. Chickens should be like every other wild bird, not like they are now, and the only reason they are like they are now is because people made them this way on purpose with no provision for what it costs their systems.

 

[Envy]

But with their unnatural high rate of egg-laying, they surely cannot eat each and every egg themselves?

Or can they?

 

[Pickle Juice]

It's usually what shelters and sanctuaries do. I have never heard of an excess of eggs in such places. Though as the birds age and are no longer fed drugs to stimulate ovulation the laying rate drops.

 

[CrazyCatLady]

When my mum had hens and one was poorly we had to put her medication into the food. We knew then that all the hens had access to it so couldn't eat any of their eggs. So she would scramble them and feed them back on the premise they might get more medication. Who knows if that theory works! Xxx

 

[mlp]

Chickens lay at high rates the first year of their lives, and then their laying rate decreases dramatically (at least if you're not stimulating egg production, which I do my best not to do). My girls are four years old, and they seem to average about one egg per hen every month or two now. (And ATM, they're not laying at all, even though I keep the chicken house heated.) The ducks are laying much more than the chickens.

 

[Kitties]

It's usually what shelters and sanctuaries do. I have never heard of an excess of eggs in such places. Though as the birds age and are no longer fed drugs to stimulate ovulation the laying rate drops.

Good points here. The hens that are kept at sanctuaries or are true pets still get to live even when they don't lay eggs anymore. Or lay very few. That is not the case in the industry. And that includes free range.

Since I've been vegan 8+ years, eggs totally turn me off. Had I had chickens when I was still vegetarian, yeah I may have ate them. Not sure though since that never happened.

 

[mlp]

Chickens don't just lay hundreds of eggs a year because that is what chickens do naturally. They have been genetically altered from birds who only lay one or two clutches of a dozen eggs a year to what we see now.

I find it unethical to benefit from the artificial genetic manipulation of generations of birds. The people who did this to them didn't do it with their health and well being in mind, they did it to turn once wild birds into industrial egg producing units for the sole purpose of serving human interest, and thus their systems are not equipped to produce such vast volumes of "waste" without exhausting them.

Imagine your state of health if you were a menstruating woman who bled 300 days of the year?

That's why to me the only ethical and moral "use" for eggs laid by rescued hens is to feed them back to the hens to replenish lost nutrients. Chickens should be like every other wild bird, not like they are now, and the only reason they are like they are now is because people made them this way on purpose with no provision for what it costs their systems.

You're right that domesticated chickens are what they are because of generations upon generations of genetic manipulation by humans, and you're right that that was/is unethical and wrong. Now that they're *older*, I'm losing my girls at the rate of about one a month - the same manipulation that turned them into egg laying machines also made them extraordinarily prone to cancers of the reproductive system and a whole host of other reproductive system issues.

That being said, I don't think it matters one whit to the chickens what is done with their eggs. I try to keep them from laying to the extent possible/healthy for them, and I try to give them the best life I can. That's what matters to these chickens, not what happens to their eggs.

The same with the ducks. The Pekins in particular have been bred to have heavy bodies, and because of this they are even more prone to bumblefoot than waterfowl generally. Dagwood and I made twice weekly visits to the U of I vet clinic (a two hour drive each direction) for more than five months following his foot surgery this summer.

What has been done to chickens and domesticated ducks, especially Pekins, is shameful. But it is what it is, and what matters to the individuals in existence now is the quality of their individual lives.

 

[Pickle Juice]

I agree that it doesn't matter to the birds. It matters to me, which is why I said I would find it unethical to benefit from their consumption. I may not have made myself absolutely clear, but that is simply my own personal view on the situation. I don't want to appear as though I am lecturing on the subject. I guess I am sensitive to the observation that most people don't know what has been done to egg laying birds to get them to produce at the rates they produce. They seem to think that they are doing the world a favor by eating eggs, because otherwise we would be knee deep in them, which just isn't so. I know it's touchy, because this is a mixed board, but I do think folk ought to know where their food comes from. It's up to them to decide after that.

 

[mlp]

I didn't take it as lecturing, and I'm sorry if I came across too strongly. For me, the eating of eggs of rescued chickens/ducks is just one of those issues that is a non-issue, whichever way one decides.

You make a good point about a lot of people probably not realizing what has been done to these animals through thousands of years of selective breeding. Since I see the consequences daily, I tend to forget that other people may not be aware.

It's even difficult to find feed that isn't loaded with hormones to maximize either egg laying or *meat production*. I had to special order feed for a long time, until I found a store an hour away that carries feed that isn't laced with hormones and other additives good for *production* but not good for the birds.

 

[CrazyCatLady]

I agree that it doesn't matter to the birds. It matters to me, which is why I said I would find it unethical to benefit from their consumption. I may not have made myself absolutely clear, but that is simply my own personal view on the situation. I don't want to appear as though I am lecturing on the subject. I guess I am sensitive to the observation that most people don't know what has been done to egg laying birds to get them to produce at the rates they produce. They seem to think that they are doing the world a favor by eating eggs, because otherwise we would be knee deep in them, which just isn't so. I know it's touchy, because this is a mixed board, but I do think folk ought to know where their food comes from. It's up to them to decide after that.

Firstly, I am enjoying reading everyone's views in this.

Secondly, I had a thought about your stand on this PJ. In the way that you believe it unethical to benefit from something that is only as a result of ill-treatment. Do we think this is similar to the research data that was gained from the tests on the Jews in the concentration camps? This data as far as I know is not to be made available due to the unethical ways in which obtained, despite there being potential to gain from it xxx

 

[Pickle Juice]

I didn't take it as lecturing, and I'm sorry if I came across too strongly...

Oh no, you didn't.

Firstly, I am enjoying reading everyone's views in this.

Secondly, I had a thought about your stand on this PJ. In the way that you believe it unethical to benefit from something that is only as a result of ill-treatment. Do we think this is similar to the research data that was gained from the tests on the Jews in the concentration camps? This data as far as I know is not to be made available due to the unethical ways in which obtained, despite there being potential to gain from it xxx

I suppose it is, yes. I don't even feel comfortable learning what can only be learned from biological experimentation on sentient organisms, while at the same time finding such knowledge interesting or useful. Hopefully as technology progresses we will be able to learn more than the Nazis did, if we haven't already, without ever having to resort to cruel experimentation on any more animals, human or non-human.