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?