- Sep
- 18
Why I Don't Eat Eggs
Posted by Steve Martindale at 5:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (22)
I used to eat a lot of eggs, on the premise that eating just the eggs doesn't hurt chickens. I imagined the idyllic barnyard of yesteryear, with a dozen hens pecking wherever they like, enjoying life in the warmth of the sun, dustbathing, and forming social bonds, free to move about with a few chicks in tow and each hen with a cozy personal nest to lay her eggs in when she wanted to. Of course, Farmer John would occasionally whack off someone's head with his axe on special occasions to eat the oldest, over-the-hill bird, but until those last few seconds, life would be good for the hens. I turned a blind eye to the realities of modern-day agriculture.
Then I saw the video "Meet Your Meat," which shows how egg—laying hens are treated on factory farms. The footage shows how their beaks are chopped off so that they can be crammed into unconscionably tiny cages without pecking their cellmates—each allotted a space the size of an 8-inch-by-11-inch piece of paper for their entire lives. The concept of chopping off part of someone's face and sentencing her to a life of sheer hell just to save space is wrong on so many levels that I can't even imagine who could think up something like that. Suffice it to say that I haven't eaten an egg since I watched that video. And I set aside any naïve notion I may have had that the pain of slaughter only involves the last few seconds of life. You'll find none of the kindness of Farmer John on today's factory farms, as "Meet Your Meat" makes painfully clear.
The abuse involved in providing billions of eggs for human consumption every year doesn't stop with the hens. If a chicken is born male, he may be spared the months of hellish confinement that his sisters face, but his suffering is equally nightmarish. Since males are of no use to the egg-laying industry, they are killed. Many are callously manhandled, crammed onto conveyor belts, and then forced into a meat grinder while fully conscious and still peeping. This is the reality for more than 200 million of these poor chicks each year. They are victims of a factory without a conscience, with machines designed for moving them around like items before grinding them into pulp. In case you have doubts about how cruel modern factory farming methods actually are, check out this new undercover video, which documents the industry standard for dealing with male chicks. The easiest way to help shut down this cruel industry is for consumers to simply stop buying and eating eggs.
There are numerous tasty substitutes for vegan cooking that don't involve cruelty to animals. For many years, I have been using apple sauce or flax seeds to replace eggs in nonvegan recipes. I prefer flax seeds: 1 tablespoon of ground flax seeds plus 2 tablespoons of water, mixed up to replace one egg. A bonus: Flax seeds contain plenty of omega-3. You can also use bananas or even buy "egg replacer" pre-packaged in a box ready to go.
On a recent visit with friends, I was treated to a breakfast of scrambled tofu that got the day off to a great start. Way better than scrambled eggs: plenty of protein, nicely spiced with onions and a bit of curry—a regular down-home, stove-top breakfast, just like Mom used to make back on her childhood farm. And no chickens were harmed!
Posted to Family & Friends | Posted to Tags: chicken, eggs, Steve Martindale, vegan
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regina sigal says...
September 18th, 2009, 6:16 pm
Every time I read something about cruelty to animals I get an
anxiety attack. I could never imagined that so-called "humans"
could grind the live chickens.
But on a second thought it's not surprising at all. Humans are the most
vicious species on earth. I know that it is a very wrong and not PC
thing to say but I hate them all especially the meat-eaters including
my husband. I am very sorry for the offensive contents of my comments
but I am very passionate about defenless animals
lol11 says...
September 18th, 2009, 8:52 pm
but things like that with the tiny cages r only in US right?
r worrell says...
September 18th, 2009, 9:27 pm
I appreciate the idea, but the author is conveying a mixed message. First he says that life used to be good for chickens on a family farm, but now it's all factory farming, and cruelty to chickens.
What about current family farms? You've left them out of the equation. If you have chickens that are pets, or your friends have them, or they are well-treated, what's wrong with eating those eggs? if anything…
There are 2 scenarios for raising chickens. The author should try to be consistent.
Amy Brown says...
September 18th, 2009, 10:21 pm
wow i never even thought that they killed the males for no reason not even to eat! that is simply barbbaric!!
Ms Lois Koch says...
September 19th, 2009, 2:17 am
I guess this just proves how callous humans can be and are to animals. In this day and age, one can look to other things for energy and food; and Vegetarians are doing exactly that.
No, of course chickens are not human; but they do deserve the respect all of God's Creations should get. Indeed! I will not in the future forget what has happened so we could have some eggs!
miranda says...
September 19th, 2009, 4:37 am
I completely agree. Whilst I do eat eggs, they are given from a friend who keeps free range chickens in her huge garden (I have seen them and when I say garden I mean garden and a few big fields) those chickens area allowed to run freely and happily, except at night obviously.
Finn Skovgaard says...
September 19th, 2009, 8:37 am
That's why I only eat eggs from a small farm where I sometimes have to stop the car to wait for the hens walking all over the place or eggs from free range hens sold under certified labels, preferrably from biological productions. I buy my milk from the same farm where the cows look just fine and are not stuffed into some industrial installation. Yes, I'm not sure about the treatment under these labelled products, but it is an over-generalization to treat all eggs the same since significant efforts are being made to give the consumer a choice. At least in Europe.
Sylvie says...
September 21st, 2009, 12:20 am
What about cage free or free roaming eggs???
Steve says...
September 21st, 2009, 11:24 am
lol11-
Unfortunatley, factory farming is not unique to the U.S. Tyson International, to take just one example, is busy establishing such methods in Mexco, Panama, Russia, and other nations. I know of one employee who was in South Africa to teach them "how to raise chickens". Here is how they describe it: http://www.tyson.com/Corporate/B2B/TysonInternational/Default.aspx
-Steve
kerry says...
September 21st, 2009, 12:18 pm
I used to buy eggs from free-range "pet chickens" that I had visited to make sure they had a good life. I later found out that as soon as the hens passed their prime laying stage and their eggs grew smaller, they were killed and replaced with younger chickens. This is not how pets should be treated, so i just gave up eggs. there are plenty of egg replacements available that are healthier for us.
Bill says...
September 23rd, 2009, 7:27 pm
I live in an area with lots of small family farms. They use the same methods as factory farms, just on a smaller scale. But even those that adopt free range methods it's still not cruelty-free. Many free range hens get no more than a few hours a day of sunshine and fresh air. Even then there are loopholes that allow for none. Plus the hens usually come from the same hatcheries that de-beak chicks and drop males into meat grinders.
Selective breeding allows today's hens to lay more eggs. This harms their health and shortens their lives. When prime egg laying days are over it's off to the slaughterhouse years before they reach old age. Many sanctuaries feed any eggs laid back to the hens to replace lost nutrients.
If you care enough about chickens to not eat them please also consider the suffering of egg-layers. Cage-free doesn't mean cruelty-free.
Julie van Niekerk says...
September 25th, 2009, 8:39 am
I approached a lady not far from where I stay (Hillside plots) and I know she has a huge place and farming battery eggs. I asked her about the battery eggs and she was more concerned about the loss of profit than the welfare of her chickens. South African farming is just as cruel as elsewhere!
Kelly Jostad says...
October 2nd, 2009, 12:40 pm
Thank you for all your comments on this subject. I'm done with eggs.
Marissa Cartwright says...
December 1st, 2009, 1:46 pm
would it be alright if i raised my own pet chickens? then collect a few eggs during the week? no harm to the chickens, not supporting cruelty to chickens by buying the eggs from the store, and a cool pet. i think eggs are very healthy and i would hate to stop eating them!
Steve says...
December 1st, 2009, 4:40 pm
Marissa-
That is an excellent question – thank you for bringing this up. Chickens are intelligent birds who do make good companions – if the conditions are right.
If the chickens are rescued as companion animals (not bought from breeders, supporting the industry) and you don't breed or sell them or their eggs, and your home really is suited for the birds' welfare, then you are not hurting the chickens by eating the eggs that the birds lay naturally. This is a slippery slope, however. How many chickens in how small a space does it take before you have a mini-factory farm? It depends on your facilities and your dedication to the birds. And you could help other chickens if you give the eggs to people who would otherwise consume eggs from factory-farmed birds. A local homeless shelter, for example. I would love for the shelter to be vegan, of course – one step at a time until we get there.
But I don't know why you think eggs are healthy: 70 percent of the calories in eggs come from fat – lots of saturated fat. They are also loaded with cholesterol—about 213 milligrams per egg . Plant-based diets provide plenty of protein without that unhealthy baggage and the risk of salmonella that comes from eggs. You'll be amazed at how easy it is to switch to the alternatives and move beyond eggs altogether.
-Steve
Marnie says...
December 1st, 2009, 5:20 pm
I've recently become Vegan and have been debating whether or not I should revert and incorporate Organic Free Range eggs into my diet. These comments have helped me realize that even those farms are not necessarily cruelty free. I think the best thing for me to do is to stick with a Vegan diet. Just curious, does anyone know how long the natural lifespan of a hen should be, and how long they are able to lay eggs?
Kelly Jostad says...
December 3rd, 2009, 11:16 am
I know I said I was done with eggs earlier… My neighbor has a dozen well cared for chickens. They built a hen house along with a fenced in out door area. In nice weather they allow the chickens to run around outside the enclosure. Anyone object to me getting eggs from my neighbor?
Tina D says...
December 12th, 2009, 10:18 pm
I have 4 new small "pet bred,fancy ,non meat"chickens that I own as pets. The recieve the best food, shelter and healthcare ane lots of room. They eat a food w/o animal source protine,lots of healthy treats, eat flax so that when they start laying eggs they will be full of Omega-3's which I'm allergic to most sources but not the omaga eggs. I bought them to eat the eggs and that's what I plan on doing. Chickens don't lack calcuim to create eggs if the diet/health of the chicken it properly taken care of. I plan on getting 2 more large chickens in the spring:)
Bill says...
December 13th, 2009, 6:50 pm
Hens come from hatcheries where half of all hatchlings are male. For every egg laying hen purchased a male was crushed, suffocated, or dropped alive into a meat grinder. This happens to millions of male chicks every year. Chickens bred for egg laying are different from those bred for meat. The egg layers grow to slowly to be profitable as meat. Plus, hens today are bred and manipulated to lay twice as many eggs as they did a century ago. This stress, loss of nutrients, and wear and tear leads to health problems, like thin bones. Normally a chicken could live 8 to 15 years. But when used for egg production most are worn out after 1 or 2 years and sent to slaughter. Because of their unnatural breeding eggs laid by rescued hens on sanctuaries are ground up and fed back to the hens to help make up for the loss of nutrients. Chickens were domesticated and bred thousands of years ago to be used and abused by humans. We don't need to exploit chickens for meat or eggs. Let them be.
Hana says...
December 18th, 2009, 4:34 pm
Terrible crime towars animals. Go vagan.Put this clip on public TV.
Greg says...
May 14th, 2010, 10:51 am
I have a couple of pet chickens. I hand raised them in my house until they were six months old. I let them out in the morning, and they go where they want. In the evening, I let them into the coop where they sleep. They are very happy. They come when I call them. They eat well. They are taken care of all winter. They spend their nights in a coop in the garage and out of the elements.
They lay eggs, and I eat them. The eggs are lower in cholesterol than store bought, and about as fresh as they can be. There's nothing wrong with eggs, only with how you get them.
Amber says...
June 16th, 2010, 7:40 pm
I've given up dairy, meat, fowl, and fish…and now I can definately give up eggs! I read all the other obscenities in the world of animal products, and this was the last one I needed to absorb. Thank you so much for the info, Im definately not eating eggs anymore. Poached eggs are not worth the life and torturing of an innocent animal.