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A question that I get with surprising frequency
from non-vegans and vegans alike is whether it's

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ethical to consume eggs from a rescued
or backyard chicken. It goes something like this.

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“My friend has her own chickens and
she loves them and takes really good care

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of them and they’re happy and healthy and
they lay eggs all the time that aren’t fertilized.

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So, wouldn’t it be okay for her to eat them?
I mean if the chicken just drops the egg and

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walks away? Or carries it to my friend and
offers the egg to her with outstretched wings?

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Or leaves a little note on the ground saying
‘please take this thing that came out

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of my vagina/anus and put it in your mouth?"

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Okay I may have made up those last two.

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But you get the idea. There’s even a new dietary
distinction called “veggan.”

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(and I have no idea if that’s how it’s pronounced,
but that’s what it’s going to be today).

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So, let’s finally tackle this beast. What
is the ethical concern with eating eggs

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from rescued or backyard hens?

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Hi it's Emily from Bite Size Vegan and welcome
to another vegan nugget. I’ve answered this

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question briefly in the Q&A for a speech I
gave, which you can watch here. But today

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I’m going to go into greater depth. And
I’ll warn you ahead of time,

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I'm rather snarky in this video.

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First off, let’s address this veggan thing.
Veggans, according to dietitian Jessica Cording,

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“follow the ‘rules’ of a vegan diet
— they avoid animal and dairy products and

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eat a plant-based diet —
they just also eat eggs.”

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Yes, because something that comes
out of the sphincter of a bird

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is definitely NOT an animal product.

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Instagram is aflutter with the new hashtag
and several articles have already been written

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on vegganism, one of which includes this gem
from registered dietitian Alissa Rumsey, a

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spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition
and Dietetics: “As people become more interested

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and aware of how food affects both their health
as well as the environment, plant-based diets,

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including veganism, are becoming more and
more popular and mainstream. Veganism may

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be appealing to people, but many find that
it is too restrictive.”

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Because once you rule out the flesh of animals’
bodies the secretions and objects that come

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out of their orifices, there’s just really
nothing left to eat!

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So why do veggans feel compelled to consume
the shelled menstruation of another species?

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Protein, of course.

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I mean, where else can you get it?

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Food writer Vicki Anne Hadley, featured in The Daily Mail, was vegan for a whole 6 months before adding

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eggs back into her diet when her friend,

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who has her own chickens,
offered her an egg dish.

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Hadley says, “I am very into fitness and
have a very active lifestyle so I wanted to

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ensure that I would be getting enough protein
in my diet.”

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Never mind the fact that the USDA has deemed
it illegal for the egg industry to advertise

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eggs as “a protein-rich food” if they’re
using government money. It’s also illegal

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to say they “contribute nutritionally,”
are “healthful” or even “contribute

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healthful components.” They can’t say
eggs are “good for you,” “healthy”

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or an “important part of well-balanced,
healthy diet.” Or even “safe.”

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Eggs were even found to have the same atherosclerotic
effect as cigarettes in a 2012 study.

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However, the egg industry has been trying
valiantly for decades to portray their product

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as healthy, rarely letting legal restrictions
hold them back and by and large succeeding

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in their goal. To hear the entire sordid conspiracy
behind eggs, see my video The Great Egg Conspiracy:

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Lies, Corruption & Kevin Bacon, linked here
and below.

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Long story short, eggs are one of the worst
things you can put in your body.

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However, as you may know and as I always emphasize,
veganism at its core is not about health.

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It can be the healthiest way to eat, but poor
health doesn’t necessarily mean poor ethics.

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So even if eggs are horrendous for our health,
what’s the ethical issue with

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eggs from backyard or rescued chickens?

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If you don’t already know, chickens on standard
farms and even free-range farms are kept indoors

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in cramped, filthy conditions and forced to
produce an unnaturally large amount of eggs,

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robbing their body of essential nutrients
and leading to premature death. If they don’t

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die from exhaustion, disease, or malnutrition,
they’re sent to slaughter when their production

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declines, typically around 68-72 weeks of
age, though their

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life expectancy is around 8-10 years.

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The most horrifying aspect of eggs is that
male layer chicks are ground up alive or suffocated

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by the hundreds of millions every year.
These are brand new, fluffy baby chicks,

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thrown into grinders while they’re still
conscious.

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So, all of that horror aside, what about the
idyllic backyard and rescue chickens, living

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out their lives outside in the grass, free
to roam and peck as nature intended?

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There are several aspects to look at here.
First, where did these beloved chickens come

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from? Did your friend -- because everyone
who asks me this refers to their friend or

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some hypothetical situation, so I’ll follow
suit: did they buy them from someone involved

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in the animal products industry? If so, that
act in itself is supporting cruelty. But let’s

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say your friend rescued their chickens
from a sanctuary.

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Another consideration is, does your friend
really have the resources and know-how to

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care for chickens? Backyard chickens seem
to be the new urban hipster accessory.

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They are to hipsters what the purse
Chihuahua is to socialites.

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Many people who excitedly bring home their
chickens don’t realize the high cost of

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properly caring for them and either end up
offering a sub-par or even low-quality home

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for their chickens, turning around and passing
them off on someone else, or even

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letting them go as if they’ll return
to the chicken wild.

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But let’s say your friend knows their chicken
stuff and has the finances and land.

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Is it okay to take the eggs then?

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What not everyone knows is that chickens will
cannibalize their own eggs. This is an important

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practice that returns vital nutrients to their
system lost with egg production. Making an

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egg is a serious endeavor involving an extreme
loss of calcium and pressure on the hen’s body.

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This is part of why hens in the egg industry
die so early. In addition, taking a hen's egg

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away sends the signal to her body to make
a replacement. So the more eggs we take away

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the more she’ll produce, thus continually
depleting her body.

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If your friend’s hens don’t seem interested
in eating the egg, they can always crack it

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a little, which usually let’s the hen know
it’s not going to turn in to a baby and

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is available for eating. This is something
I did when I volunteered at SASHA Farm Animal

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Sanctuary. And trust me, there
was nothing left.

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But what if your friend has cracked the egg
and the hens still won’t eat it. Can they

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then, finally, serve it up over easy, despite,
of course, the health consequences?

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Isn't an omelete ethical at this point?

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Here’s what it comes done to. Hens do not
make eggs for us. They are not ours. And this

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insane drive to justify something – anything
– that came from an animal because, god forbid

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we not eat something that came out
of someone else, is part of

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the addict behavior of animal product consumption.

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If you think that’s extreme, take in this
excerpt from an article in The Guardian quoting

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Isobel Davies, co-founder of Hen Nation, an
“ethical egg” farm.

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Hold on, you couldn’t see me because
the image was up. An “ethical egg” farm.

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Let's proceed.

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Davies says, “I get so many emails from
vegans about our eggs. One woman said she

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couldn’t sleep the night before trying them
because she was so excited. “

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Linda Turvey, who runs the Hen Heaven sanctuary
says, “I get calls from all over the country.

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Virtually all the eggs are going to vegans
or their friends and family. I recently got a call from

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a new vegan who works out in the gym and wanted to order 80 eggs a week for protein."

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She also recalled one man from London
who caught the train to Horsham, a bus to

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Henfield and then walked a mile and a half
to the Sussex sanctuary just to get

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some eggs for his vegan daughter.

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Now if that’s not addict behavior, I don’t
know what is.

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I hope this video was helpful. If you want
to learn more about eggs, check out the videos

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below, including my egg video for kids. I’d
love to hear your thoughts on the backyard

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chicken debate and the veggan phenomenon.
Let me know what you think in the comments.

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If you liked this golden egg of a nugget,
do give the video a thumbs up and share it

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around to answer this oft-asked question.
If you’re new here, I’d love to have you

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as a subscriber. I put out fresh content covering
all aspects of veganism every Monday, Wednesday,

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and some Fridays. To help support Bite Size
Vegan’s educational efforts, please see

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the support links below or click on the Nugget
Army icon or the link in the sidebar.

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Now go live vegan, stop eating sphincter food,
and I’ll see you soon.

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That was my favorite part. “They avoid animal
products. And they eat eggs.”

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When you’re eating something that came out
… of an animal…

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…the animal produced it. It’s literally…
an animal product.

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It’s something that literally fell … out
of an animal …

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… I don’t understand how this is not connecting.