Not that this is a big change. We're pretty much egg-free all winter. Most people don't recognize this but chickens, left to their natural cycles, do not really lay eggs during the winter. Unless they are artificially tampered with, as all commercial egg factories do, hens don't lay eggs when it is not feasible to have baby chicks around. Therefore, no eggs in the winter.
But it's spring again and the girls have started laying again. We know that our girls live in a cruelty-free, natural environment. We know they won't be killed when they stop laying. We know they were rescues and not bred just for us. So theirs are the only eggs we ate because they lay them regardless of what we do with them. And, as there is not a rooster around, these eggs would never become chicks.
(BTW, you know that's how it works, right? Eggs are part of the hen's reproductive cycle. Just like humans, they produce an egg no matter what. Only if it is fertilized does it become a chick. So many people have been surprised by this that I have to make sure to clarify.)
The hubby is really the only one who has been eating the eggs. I was never a huge fan anyways but after we became vegan I really saw no point in it, especially as I've had no problem working around them for baking. Well, he tried eating some recently and has found that they are bothering his stomach. His body has recognized, by being free of this animal product for several months, that it does not need them. So now they're out.
What are we going to do with the eggs that Meg and Gertie lay each day? We are going to share them with our friends. While I don't want to encourage egg consumption, I'm hoping these eggs can replace some of the purchasing of commercial eggs and spare, if only slightly, the millions of abused animals that are subjected to unspeakable cruelty in this industry.
While we're talking eggs, check out the giant egg that Meg laid the other day. The egg on the right is her typical egg. Crazy, huh?
Go Meggie!
1 comment:
I think that's awesome and I'm really quite thrilled to hear it!
My husband and I debated a bit about our own egg consumption. After all, we had already obtained the hens before finally deciding to go vegan (back when we thought there was such a thing as "humane" animal products). And we know we're going to treat them better than anyone we would give them to around here, so we plan to keep them and let them live out their lives here.
But, I didn't like the idea of eating eggs while telling others not to and insisting that I wouldn't eat any other eggs when visiting people. I'm still kind of torn about helping others feel better about eating eggs, but I think it's the most practical thing to do and will hopefully reduce the suffering out there more than tossing them in the compost (as these hens seem to have little interest in eating their own eggs, even mashed up).
And we do know plenty of people who eat eggs and have NO intentions whatsoever of giving them up. But at least it means that they keep coming back to us for more, and probably more than they bargained for.
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