Are backyard eggs wrong?
I often hear the sentiment “why can’t I eat my neighbor’s backyard chicken’s eggs? They lay the eggs, they’re unfertilized, and they’re just sitting there, so why is that wrong?” At first glance, it may seem like a victimless crime, but once you learn about the egg industry and how chickens have been selectively bred, then you’ll see the harm. The biggest issues are:
Chickens naturally produce around 10-15 eggs a year, but due to humans selectively breeding them, they now produce about 250-300 eggs per year. This takes a terrible toll on their bodies, causing nutrient deficiencies, sickness, infection, suffering, pain, and even death. The eggs should be left alone (or broken up for them) so that the chickens will eat them to regain some of the nutrients they’ve lost.
The egg-laying hens were most likely purchased from the egg industry (even if indirectly), which is a barbaric and cruel industry. Day-old male chicks are blended alive in a macerator, mother hens live in battery cages where they can barely move, and female chicks will grow up to live the same fate as their mother. Purchasing them from this industry supports this cruelty.
Typically, when an egg-laying hen stops producing eggs, they become dinner. By eating these eggs you’re supporting the eventual slaughter of the hen.
As a moral and philosophical stance, those eggs do not belong to us, and animals are not ours to use and exploit for our own personal benefit. I stand firm on my principles.
If videos are more your style, here’s a great video from Earthling Ed that explains why it’s wrong:
Please consider the victim in this “victimless” crime.
