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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Okay I may have made up those last two.

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

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

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

from rescued or backyard hens?

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

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

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

I'm rather snarky in this video.

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

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

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

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

is definitely NOT an animal product.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Protein, of course.

I mean, where else can you get it?

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

eggs back into her diet when her friend,

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

eggs from backyard or rescued chickens?

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

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

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

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

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

life expectancy is around 8-10 years.

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

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

thrown into grinders while they’re still
conscious.

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

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

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

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

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

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

say your friend rescued their chickens
from a sanctuary.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Is it okay to take the eggs then?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sanctuary. And trust me, there
was nothing left.

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

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

Isn't an omelete ethical at this point?

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

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

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

the addict behavior of animal product consumption.

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

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

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

Let's proceed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

some eggs for his vegan daughter.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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