I was at a party this weekend and inevitably the topic of chickens came up. The topic came up about eating the fruits of the flock. One of the guests was vegan and stated she wanted pet chickens but couldn't have them. So I ask a general question: "what do vegans do with all of the eggs their chickens lay"?
What do vegans do with chicken eggs?
- Thread starter chiknlady
- Start date
I am neither vegetarian nor vegan, and likely never will be.
But I will tell you one thing - I don't eat any meat or eggs that aren't raised on my farm. I know how my animals live. And I process all my own poultry (I don't process lamb, but found a compassionate processor who is respectful of my animals, and kills them quickly and humanely.
My daughter has been exposed to all our animals since birth. Heck, she shared a birthday with one of our lambs! (if it wasn't a ram, I would have kept it!) She's seen lambs born, she's watched eggs hatch (saw one this morning!) She collects and washes eggs with me, and she's there when we process birds. She even helps bring the birds to the scalder for me, and helps pluck. She's 3. We'll see how her attitude changes as she gets older and starts to understand...
We have hens that hatch their own eggs and we let them raise their young. Our lambs stay with their mamas until processing time. Everyone lives outside on the pasture, in the sun. They have safe and secure places to sleep (some of their own choosing) and they are free to roam the pasture, eat grasses, and do whatever critters do. And at the end - they get a kiss on the head and a thank you, and we eat them. All our sheep have names, all are treated like pets, BUT if I want to keep raising lambs and hatching birds, I eventually have to eat a few to make room for more.
If I started feeling guilty every time I ate a lamb chop, or an omelette, then I'd have to stop eating carrots and lettuce, too. Because I'd feel guilty for killing those living plants, as well. They get to have a good life, likely a safer life than if they were in the wild (especially with the coyotes around my place) It's how I justify it, but it is also why I raise MY OWN meat, and don't support factory farms and feed lots!
But I will tell you one thing - I don't eat any meat or eggs that aren't raised on my farm. I know how my animals live. And I process all my own poultry (I don't process lamb, but found a compassionate processor who is respectful of my animals, and kills them quickly and humanely.
My daughter has been exposed to all our animals since birth. Heck, she shared a birthday with one of our lambs! (if it wasn't a ram, I would have kept it!) She's seen lambs born, she's watched eggs hatch (saw one this morning!) She collects and washes eggs with me, and she's there when we process birds. She even helps bring the birds to the scalder for me, and helps pluck. She's 3. We'll see how her attitude changes as she gets older and starts to understand...
We have hens that hatch their own eggs and we let them raise their young. Our lambs stay with their mamas until processing time. Everyone lives outside on the pasture, in the sun. They have safe and secure places to sleep (some of their own choosing) and they are free to roam the pasture, eat grasses, and do whatever critters do. And at the end - they get a kiss on the head and a thank you, and we eat them. All our sheep have names, all are treated like pets, BUT if I want to keep raising lambs and hatching birds, I eventually have to eat a few to make room for more.
If I started feeling guilty every time I ate a lamb chop, or an omelette, then I'd have to stop eating carrots and lettuce, too. Because I'd feel guilty for killing those living plants, as well. They get to have a good life, likely a safer life than if they were in the wild (especially with the coyotes around my place) It's how I justify it, but it is also why I raise MY OWN meat, and don't support factory farms and feed lots!
- Mar 19, 2009
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Just a comment on milking cows. I have milked a lot of goats and cows in my life. Using a milking machine is NOT cruelty. Whatever makes you think it is? In fact, a machine is a lot easier on the udder than a lot of people's hands. If a cow is in pain, she will not let her milk down and you won't be able to get a drop. Plus she will kick and wiggle and generally throw a fit. She won't just stand there, believe me. All the animals I have ever milked, both goats and cows, came into the barn willingly to be milked, and most of the time I used a machine. Besides, you cannot milk those really high producing Holsteins, those producing over 100 pounds per day, by hand. I had enough trouble with my Jerseys when the milking macine was down and they only gave about 40 pounds a day. A gallon of milk weighs about 8.6 pounds. And when I had my goat dairy, there was no way in the world would it have been possible for me to milk over 100 milk goats by hand by myself.
- Mar 19, 2009
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If the cows do not go into the barn willingly to be milked, there is something very very wrong with the management of that dairy. I know something about cows and dairying. I used to live in one of the largest dairying areas in the country. I have been in dairies milking anything 25 to 2500 or more cows. I worked as a milker for many years. At one time or another I milked 225 Jerseys by myself in a flat barn, I milked about 60 Holsteins in a herringbone parlor, and I had a commercial goat dairy of my own with 100 milking does for several years. In addition I tested cows for DHIA in Monterey County in California. Testing cows gave me an opportunity to see a lot of different dairies. At none of the places I saw, did anyone have to bring the cows in to the parlor by force. You just open the gate and in they come. At one small Guernsey dairy I tested, the milker would go to the door of the parlor and call in the individual cows by name. My goats were the same way except sometimes they all wanted to come in at once. When I was milking cows the only ones I ever had to go out and bring in were the fresh heifers.
To answer some of the questions, the baby bull calves and buck kids go for meat (sorry) and the females are kept for milk. On most cow dairies, the calf stays with the mother for one to three days or so to get the colostrum. Then it is moved to the calf barn and fed milk or replacer. If you think that feeding milk replacer to a calf rather than its mother's milk, keep in mind people do the same thing. If purchased baby formula is not milk replacer, I don't know what is.The cow or goat is usually milked for ten months after giving birth, at which time she is dried off and in two months she will give birth again. Dairy goats and cows produce far more milk than their babies can ever consume. Baby goats and baby calves are usually weaned at about eight weeks of age, by which time they are eating hay and grain. My goat kids were removed from their mothers immediately after birth and fed pasteurized goat milk, or cow milk when I had it, because of CAE, a disease that is transmitted to the kids from their mother's milk.. CAE does not affect people or other animals except maybe sheep. You may think it is cruel to remove the baby from it's mother at birth, but is is more cruel to allow it to contract a lifelong disease which causes painful arthritis, among other things, when it could have been prevented. Cows that no longer produce end up as hamburger. Cows that cannot walk and "have to be propped up" need to go to the butcher ASAP and the dairyman needs improve his breeding program to breed structurally sound cows. The udders of structurally correct cows and goats do not rub, drag, or get sores no matter how full they get. Cows are milked twice a day, and on some places with very high producers, they are milked every eight hours. As for mastitis, even beef cows out on pasture with their calves, in the most natural environment possible, can and do get mastitis.
And for those of you who seem to think animals are better off without the interference of man, keep in mind life for animals in the wild is not all beer and skittles either. Very few of them die peacefully in their beds of old age.
To answer some of the questions, the baby bull calves and buck kids go for meat (sorry) and the females are kept for milk. On most cow dairies, the calf stays with the mother for one to three days or so to get the colostrum. Then it is moved to the calf barn and fed milk or replacer. If you think that feeding milk replacer to a calf rather than its mother's milk, keep in mind people do the same thing. If purchased baby formula is not milk replacer, I don't know what is.The cow or goat is usually milked for ten months after giving birth, at which time she is dried off and in two months she will give birth again. Dairy goats and cows produce far more milk than their babies can ever consume. Baby goats and baby calves are usually weaned at about eight weeks of age, by which time they are eating hay and grain. My goat kids were removed from their mothers immediately after birth and fed pasteurized goat milk, or cow milk when I had it, because of CAE, a disease that is transmitted to the kids from their mother's milk.. CAE does not affect people or other animals except maybe sheep. You may think it is cruel to remove the baby from it's mother at birth, but is is more cruel to allow it to contract a lifelong disease which causes painful arthritis, among other things, when it could have been prevented. Cows that no longer produce end up as hamburger. Cows that cannot walk and "have to be propped up" need to go to the butcher ASAP and the dairyman needs improve his breeding program to breed structurally sound cows. The udders of structurally correct cows and goats do not rub, drag, or get sores no matter how full they get. Cows are milked twice a day, and on some places with very high producers, they are milked every eight hours. As for mastitis, even beef cows out on pasture with their calves, in the most natural environment possible, can and do get mastitis.
And for those of you who seem to think animals are better off without the interference of man, keep in mind life for animals in the wild is not all beer and skittles either. Very few of them die peacefully in their beds of old age.
This is such an interesting thread! I get asked alot of questions--being a 'reformed Vegan'...so I thought I would lay in my perspective 
My mom and stepdad loved gardening and were fortunate enough to own a house on a full acre with their own well. They did as much as they could to allow us kids to be raised as 'normally' as possible, but teach us also about the value of life. We had half of the property dedicated to a veggie garden and orchard, and we had a green house attatched to the side of the house for growing winter food.. we hardly ever went to the store for fruit or veggies.
My mom grew up eatting meat, drinking milk, and eatting eggs..and so did my stepdad, but he decided at some point in his life that he didn't want to kill animals for food or support their exploitation by commercial industry--and so he became a vegan... Mom still ate meat when they met and gave it up for him. My youngest siblings went right along with being good little vegans, but I had a secret addiction to meat. I would trade food for a lunch meat sandwich to get my fix. My mom found out and was very angry with me, and asked if I would be willing to kill for the meat I was eatting--I said to her horror "YES." I was grounded.
With regards to how animals are treated, I was taught that the needs of the animals are ABOVE your own. Animals raised in a domesticated environment don't have the 'skills' to survive in the wild on their own. And if my pet rat could escape and feed himself, or find a cleaner place to live--he would. We were also taught to never own an animal unless we knew EVERYTHING about its care requirements and ecological history ( research before you buy). Pets belonged to the parents. Us kids looked after the pets as if they were our siblings. If we wanted a pet we were welcome to "share" with my parents. An animal wasn't ours unless we were buying ALL of its food and could afford the vet bill. All life was respected, in the sense that every animal has its purpose and should never be taken, or taken for granted. With the exception of poisonous spiders.
Once I moved out on my own, I fed my meat addiction heartily. And even decided to go hunting, fishing, and raise my own animals for the purpose of meat production. Everyone is different, and has differnt levels of tolerance. My sister is disgusted and horrified that I grew up the way I did, and can/ will kill my meat rabbits. I only have a few. And I treat them very well. They get the very best feed, plenty of treats, probiotics, get let out to run around on my back lawn every evening, they get held pet and treated like they are apart of my family. I don't treat them like an object, they are individuals with their own personalities and I think its important to make them feel loved and appreciated. What sort of life is it to sit in a cage and wait miserably for your death?They don't know how much I appreciate what they are going to do for me, and I only get one time to tell them and that is while they are alive.
My husbands family was very poor and they lived out in the woods with no electricity or running water. He lived like the early settlers did. They raised goats, pigs, chickens, sheep, and on occasion a Turkey. They played with the baby animals that they later skinned and ate. And he is no crazy serial murderer or lover of gory films. It was just a fact of life, that your goat was born to feed you and your family. He said once he had a favorite goat, and he saw it get butchered for the family--and he said the only thing that upset him was that he wasn't going to be able to play with that goat, so he found another, and enjoyed dinner that night.
My key to raising meat animals, is to have no favorites. If I do develop a 'favorite' it makes it extremely difficult for me to justify killing them--hence the whole bonding thing. I over come that by offering these animals as pets-- a few of my bunnies have found great homes with 4-H kids and rabbit pet owners. For those that do not get the privledge of being a pet, they become breeders. When they become old, and its time for them to 'retire' I do what needs to be done, and thank that animal for its service. Not every animal can be saved..and raising animals for food would go no where if people couldn't bring themselves to kill another aniamal for the benifit of their own health.
I simply do not find it bothersome to kill an animal for meat. I do find it disturbing that people can say "aw it doesn't matter its just a stupid cow." or similar statements. All animals are equal. They are all intelligent, all feel pain- some can feel sorrow or joy, and express those feelings in ways that we can understand them. But then. plants can 'feel' sensations too..ever see Myth busters when they hooked a plant up to a lie detector and then scortched it? There was an energy surge as the plant was being scortched, and then everytime anyone tried to touch it there after; almost as if it was anticipating another assault.
They can sense heat, cold, light, dark--too much cold or heat "hurts" a plant, but No one feels bad about up rooting a carrot, letting its root membranes dry out on the counter, and then get chopped up and boiled while all the cells are still living---And I am not willing to starve on the behalf of an animal..I would gladly eat one of my pets if I were trapped in a blizzard for months with no food. Humans are omnivores, and it is just as natural for man to eat a fish as it is for a snake to eat mice.
As a child, and now as an adult I believe its benificial to be able to hunt for your own food. Vegitarians only live well today because of the variety of food/processed food (soy,rice products) that stores carry--but what if there were no stores? How hard would it be for Vegans in cold or hot dry climates to grow a good crop of rice or soy to make their own tofu or rice milk? Would they be able to also grow alot of the stabilizers and texturizers that are commonly used in those products? True veggies have alot of vitamins and nutrients, but they don't have alot of Protien, Fats or B vitamins--that are essential for good liver function. Many vegans, my stepfather included, suffer from liver problems and need to be given injections of essential vitamin B and protien as they get older. Afflictions of eatting too much meat and not enough veggies also plague people.. but no vegan I know of has ever lived beyond 90..
What if there was a major global catastrophy and we all got plunged into the dark ages? The life that many modern vegitarians enjoy wouldn't exsist. They simply wouldn't be able to say, "Im not intersted in buying your wool Sir, but do you have any bamboo fiber??" I am not a conspiracy theorist or anything, its just the facts..people who have an open mind--who can grow and raise their own food are more independant, and better fit for surviving in this global economy or the next.
My mom and stepdad loved gardening and were fortunate enough to own a house on a full acre with their own well. They did as much as they could to allow us kids to be raised as 'normally' as possible, but teach us also about the value of life. We had half of the property dedicated to a veggie garden and orchard, and we had a green house attatched to the side of the house for growing winter food.. we hardly ever went to the store for fruit or veggies.
My mom grew up eatting meat, drinking milk, and eatting eggs..and so did my stepdad, but he decided at some point in his life that he didn't want to kill animals for food or support their exploitation by commercial industry--and so he became a vegan... Mom still ate meat when they met and gave it up for him. My youngest siblings went right along with being good little vegans, but I had a secret addiction to meat. I would trade food for a lunch meat sandwich to get my fix. My mom found out and was very angry with me, and asked if I would be willing to kill for the meat I was eatting--I said to her horror "YES." I was grounded.
With regards to how animals are treated, I was taught that the needs of the animals are ABOVE your own. Animals raised in a domesticated environment don't have the 'skills' to survive in the wild on their own. And if my pet rat could escape and feed himself, or find a cleaner place to live--he would. We were also taught to never own an animal unless we knew EVERYTHING about its care requirements and ecological history ( research before you buy). Pets belonged to the parents. Us kids looked after the pets as if they were our siblings. If we wanted a pet we were welcome to "share" with my parents. An animal wasn't ours unless we were buying ALL of its food and could afford the vet bill. All life was respected, in the sense that every animal has its purpose and should never be taken, or taken for granted. With the exception of poisonous spiders.
Once I moved out on my own, I fed my meat addiction heartily. And even decided to go hunting, fishing, and raise my own animals for the purpose of meat production. Everyone is different, and has differnt levels of tolerance. My sister is disgusted and horrified that I grew up the way I did, and can/ will kill my meat rabbits. I only have a few. And I treat them very well. They get the very best feed, plenty of treats, probiotics, get let out to run around on my back lawn every evening, they get held pet and treated like they are apart of my family. I don't treat them like an object, they are individuals with their own personalities and I think its important to make them feel loved and appreciated. What sort of life is it to sit in a cage and wait miserably for your death?They don't know how much I appreciate what they are going to do for me, and I only get one time to tell them and that is while they are alive.
My husbands family was very poor and they lived out in the woods with no electricity or running water. He lived like the early settlers did. They raised goats, pigs, chickens, sheep, and on occasion a Turkey. They played with the baby animals that they later skinned and ate. And he is no crazy serial murderer or lover of gory films. It was just a fact of life, that your goat was born to feed you and your family. He said once he had a favorite goat, and he saw it get butchered for the family--and he said the only thing that upset him was that he wasn't going to be able to play with that goat, so he found another, and enjoyed dinner that night.
My key to raising meat animals, is to have no favorites. If I do develop a 'favorite' it makes it extremely difficult for me to justify killing them--hence the whole bonding thing. I over come that by offering these animals as pets-- a few of my bunnies have found great homes with 4-H kids and rabbit pet owners. For those that do not get the privledge of being a pet, they become breeders. When they become old, and its time for them to 'retire' I do what needs to be done, and thank that animal for its service. Not every animal can be saved..and raising animals for food would go no where if people couldn't bring themselves to kill another aniamal for the benifit of their own health.
I simply do not find it bothersome to kill an animal for meat. I do find it disturbing that people can say "aw it doesn't matter its just a stupid cow." or similar statements. All animals are equal. They are all intelligent, all feel pain- some can feel sorrow or joy, and express those feelings in ways that we can understand them. But then. plants can 'feel' sensations too..ever see Myth busters when they hooked a plant up to a lie detector and then scortched it? There was an energy surge as the plant was being scortched, and then everytime anyone tried to touch it there after; almost as if it was anticipating another assault.
They can sense heat, cold, light, dark--too much cold or heat "hurts" a plant, but No one feels bad about up rooting a carrot, letting its root membranes dry out on the counter, and then get chopped up and boiled while all the cells are still living---And I am not willing to starve on the behalf of an animal..I would gladly eat one of my pets if I were trapped in a blizzard for months with no food. Humans are omnivores, and it is just as natural for man to eat a fish as it is for a snake to eat mice.
As a child, and now as an adult I believe its benificial to be able to hunt for your own food. Vegitarians only live well today because of the variety of food/processed food (soy,rice products) that stores carry--but what if there were no stores? How hard would it be for Vegans in cold or hot dry climates to grow a good crop of rice or soy to make their own tofu or rice milk? Would they be able to also grow alot of the stabilizers and texturizers that are commonly used in those products? True veggies have alot of vitamins and nutrients, but they don't have alot of Protien, Fats or B vitamins--that are essential for good liver function. Many vegans, my stepfather included, suffer from liver problems and need to be given injections of essential vitamin B and protien as they get older. Afflictions of eatting too much meat and not enough veggies also plague people.. but no vegan I know of has ever lived beyond 90..
What if there was a major global catastrophy and we all got plunged into the dark ages? The life that many modern vegitarians enjoy wouldn't exsist. They simply wouldn't be able to say, "Im not intersted in buying your wool Sir, but do you have any bamboo fiber??" I am not a conspiracy theorist or anything, its just the facts..people who have an open mind--who can grow and raise their own food are more independant, and better fit for surviving in this global economy or the next.
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I think they could blow out the eggs and make decorations? I know 5 AZ sisters does it.
Well, I know one vegan, he has been vegan for over a decade, and he does eat the eggs from my hens. But other than that he avoids ALL animal products.
Since they are happy and free and laying the eggs anyway, he doesn't have any problem with eating the eggs.
Since they are happy and free and laying the eggs anyway, he doesn't have any problem with eating the eggs.
Quote:
My thoughts exactly!! Our society wastes soooo much
My thoughts exactly!! Our society wastes soooo much
because I do not have government certification my local foodbank could not take my eggs....however they were able to let a few people know that i am looking for "new friends"...lol makes me sound like a loner...and what "friends" do is no business of thiers...hint hint...so now I have a family waiting patiently for eggs..I have 10 hens. there is not way i will eat 5-7 dozen eggs a week..
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