The ethical impact of eating Eggs?

[Altair]

I want to talk about eggs with fellow vegetarians and everyone else interested! This is not about meat eating so please stay on topic.

I want to discuss the ethical side to eating eggs (unfertilized) since, over the years, I’ve gone back and forth between lacto-ovo and lacto vegetarianism.

Some people say egg eating is unethical because it causes stress to the hens. I grew up and we had chickens and did not observe this. The hens got old. The chickens don’t get killed, are fed and have a safe barn where no foxes can enter so what would be the problem? It seems an okay trade off.

Then other people say, often those from Indian culture, that eggs are the “property” of the chicken and we must not interfere. Excuse me but why then do you give the free pass to milking cows? Both cows AND chickens have been bred and selected over the millennia to produce an abundance of milk/eggs.

What is your take on this, and why?
Have you tried different veg diets with and without eggs?

[JustBe]

If you take care of any life form yourself you learn more directly, it’s nature, it’s needs, how it fits into your view, then you can decide for you, how to work together. You once had chickens and observed first hand how a happy little eco system supports all life to live more contented in it’s needs. So look at the hen in this way, look at yourself in your needs and decide for you.

I eat eggs. I’m very concerned and consider where they come from, how the hens are treated and have their natural needs met. I don’t have my own yet, but that’s the goal when I can create a more harmonious eco system overall. Until that time I don’t know if I will stop eating eggs. If I observe the chickens this closely, I might.

[inavalan]

Hens will lay eggs regardless of whether or not they are being kept in the company of a rooster. The hen's body is naturally intended to produce an egg once every 24 to 27 hours, and it will form the egg regardless of whether the egg is actively fertilized during its formation. A hen's egg will be edible regardless of whether it has been fertilized.

[Debrah]

Originally Posted by inavalan

Hens will lay eggs regardless of whether or not they are being kept in the company of a rooster. The hen's body is naturally intended to produce an egg once every 24 to 27 hours, and it will form the egg regardless of whether the egg is actively fertilized during its formation. A hen's egg will be edible regardless of whether it has been fertilized.

Chickens have been 'manipulated' to produce an egg every 24 hours. Which other species of bird ovulates every day? Chickens as we know them today are not a natural species.

[Rah nam]

For me it is very simple, for the last 20+ years I am guided by my HS what to eat and what not to eat, any animal products are out, as well any animal husbandry would not be acceptable for me as well as keeping pets.
What anyone else does is up to them. I would not tell anyone what to eat and what not to, or how to engage with animals. This is between them and the animal.

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Altair

I want to talk about eggs with fellow vegetarians and everyone else interested! This is not about meat eating so please stay on topic.

I want to discuss the ethical side to eating eggs (unfertilized) since, over the years, I’ve gone back and forth between lacto-ovo and lacto vegetarianism.

Some people say egg eating is unethical because it causes stress to the hens. I grew up and we had chickens and did not observe this. The hens got old. The chickens don’t get killed, are fed and have a safe barn where no foxes can enter so what would be the problem? It seems an okay trade off.

Then other people say, often those from Indian culture, that eggs are the “property” of the chicken and we must not interfere. Excuse me but why then do you give the free pass to milking cows? Both cows AND chickens have been bred and selected over the millennia to produce an abundance of milk/eggs.

What is your take on this, and why?
Have you tried different veg diets with and without eggs?

On the 'Indian culture(s)' thing. When I trained in Buddhist meditation the diet was vegetarian. Eating eggs was forbidden because they considered an egg to be an animal. They were pretty big on dairy - lots of yogurt!

[Altair]

Originally Posted by Gem

On the 'Indian culture(s)' thing. When I trained in Buddhist meditation the diet was vegetarian. Eating eggs was forbidden because they considered an egg to be an animal. They were pretty big on dairy - lots of yogurt!

Didn't you tell them an egg can be unfertilized? You must have tried..!

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Altair

Didn't you tell them an egg can be unfertilized? You must have tried..!

We had one person we could ask for basic things like soap and whatnot if we needed, and a teacher we could ask about meditation practice, but other than that, speaking was forbidden.

[Pagandell]

Originally Posted by Altair

Didn't you tell them an egg can be unfertilized? You must have tried..!

Even if the egg is unfertilized it is still fleshy and distasteful to me

[BigJohn]

Originally Posted by Gem

On the 'Indian culture(s)' thing. When I trained in Buddhist meditation the diet was vegetarian. Eating eggs was forbidden because they considered an egg to be an animal. They were pretty big on dairy - lots of yogurt!

I use to live in a city in which almost everybody was Buddhist.
What amazed me was the motorcycles which would deliver a huge number of eggs (I would say at least 100 dozen eggs) on the back of their motorcycles. My Mother-in-law is a vegetarian and a follower of Kwan Yin. As a 'vegetarian' she is allowed to eat chicken and fish. Figure it out, I never could.
My wife and daughter are Buddhist. When I buy eggs for them, I generally
buy 4-6 dozen. My wife goes thru them so fast that she doesn't ever put them in the refrigerator.