Alright girls Im ready to face the truth. Tell me why I need to give up eating eggs.

[vermontgirl]

Right now I call myself an ovo vegetarian because I dont eat meat or dairy but I occasionally eat eggs. I KNOW eggs are not the best thing for me but I need a bunch of people to tell me all about why I shouldnt be eating them. I am aware of the egg practices and how they kill all the male chickees but I get eggs from my sis who has free range well-treated chickens.
Be brutally honest so that I hear all the true facts.

[avendesora]

Laying chickens tend to be the most poorly treated animals. I honestly don't know all the facts, but I know that factory farmed layers have absolutely brutal lives.

That said, I think that eggs from a pastured chicken can be a good source of vitamins and minerals and protein, and the chickens don't have a bad life. We do eat eggs, but only if they're from pastured chickens.

Aven

[vermontgirl]

I am aware of factory farming practices but that is not even the issue because I would never put a factory farmed egg near my mouth.

[christacular]

what does your sister do with the male chicks? what does she do when hens experience a slow-down in or completely stop laying?

[vermontgirl]

This is her first batch of chickens so I have not found out yet what she is going to do with them but I have heard her say that she will keep all of her chickens as pets after they are done laying. We shall see if this is possible for her.

She only had one male chick and she had him for a pet as a rooster until he started pecking the others a lot. Her father-in-law who lives right behind her on a farm took him as a pet on his farm. He had a great ole time roaming around up there. She could see him from her house walking around like a king and making cute rooster sounds.

[wildtigercubs]

I read somewhere that chickens eggs are effectively a chickens period when they are unfertilised (GROSS!!!!). Among all the AR stuff of course

[christacular]

Originally Posted by vermontgirl

This is her first batch of chickens so I have not found out yet what she is going to do with them but I have heard her say that she will keep all of her chickens as pets after they are done laying. We shall see if this is possible for her.

She only had one male chick and she had him for a pet as a rooster until he started pecking the others a lot. Her father-in-law who lives right behind her on a farm took him as a pet on his farm. He had a great ole time roaming around up there. She could see him from her house walking around like a king and making cute rooster sounds.

sounds like an ideal situation. i guess my only qualms would be, eggs are not neccessary for good health, so keeping and breeding the chickens at all is a form of unneccessary animal exploitation. it will be interesting to read what she does with all the old hens, though; it could quickly become a situation where the chickens take over the farm. i mean from a cost analysis, one or two retired hens is no big deal and probably won't consume too many resources, but that can quickly become dozens of hens who are consuming plenty and producing nothing. don't know too many farmers who would think of that as a particularly appealing situation.

i wouldn't eat the eggs myself (they gross me out - the whites are basically snot and the yolks are funky), but if you feel you HAVE to, your sister sounds like the source to go to.

[amyleigh33]

To expand on what Christacular was saying, the main ethical/philosophical argument against eating the eggs is really one of the strongest and reasonably flawless arguments that exists (in my humble opinion) for veganism and animal rights--and that is in the inherent right one being to not be consciously exploited by another, no matter how "nice" the exploitation is. While this may come across as the most "hardline" argument for veganism, it is incidentally also the most solid. I have found through my years of research on the topic, that the Utilitarian approach advocated by Singer in the Bentham tradition, and followed and advocated by what seems to be a large segment of vegans, is a slippery slope and extremely difficult to establish.

Personally, contrary to my tongue-in-cheek signature, I am not nearly "hardcore" enough to argue at length to try to give you any particularly good reason to stop eating eggs from your sister's farm. But, I thought I would give you a bit more of a primer on what argument could be made.

The only other thing it sounds like you are looking for is someone to tell you about how unhealthy eggs are. Quite frankly, I find extensive debate about the healthfulness of a vegan vs. nonvegan diet extremely agonizing. For every article, doctor, website, study, etc. that advocates a vegan diet, there are at least ten more that don't. Obviously, one reason for that is there is a lot more research on the non-vegan diet; but either way no matter what you say, someone will always have some "evidence" to "prove" you wrong. I.E. look how many times the dreaded soy debate comes up on these boards, and everyone has a different opinion, and many different sources for their beliefs. If optimal health alone was the only reason I was vegan, I would be extremely wary of admitting it because it seems like it would be almost impossible to prove that it is the healthiest or even one of the healthiest diets. It is much easier to me to say, "It's healthy, good for the environment, and anyways, I am opposed to the unnecessary exploitation of other beings for my personal palate."

OK, now this is getting too long.

[falcon]

The yolks are riddled with cholesterol. And egg whites taste nasty, and look like the result of a breeding experiment between jello and glue

[lrlittle]

I agree with what others have said re: "nice" exploitation. And I see no reason that I need to eat eggs to be healthy. And once I think about what an egg really is, it grosses me out.

I also don't see how your sister can continue what she's doing. Unless she has unlimited space and money for food for more and more chickens and/or unlimited like-minded people she can give her non-producing chickens to... Realistically it doesn't seem possible.

[wildtigercubs]

Actually a friend of ours owns a huge property about an hour out of town with bushland and stuff on it. He owns a number of chickens (both male and female) and they come to his barn to lay and more often than not leave the eggs and go bush again. He takes the one's they leave but if they sit on them he lets them most of the time. If males hatch it doesn't worry him. He just sprinkles feed around for them and the rest of the time they disappear into the bush and forage for themselves. Eventually they die of old age. He doesn't let too many of them hatch though unless some are on their last legs. When he has eggs he has eggs and when he doesn't it doesn't bother him. Sometimes he gives them to us and I don't mind eating those.

[vermontgirl]

I totally agree with all of you-and I know that I dont need eggs to be healthy. I just really like to use them for baking. I have used egg replacer for things and it ruins the consistancy. I made my husband a chocolate birthday cake for his birthday and I made it dairy-free but I couldnt make it egg-free because I know it would have ruined it.

I know that eggs are a chickens menstrual cycle but that doesnt gross me out. That probably means that they dont care if we take them-since they are something their body gets rid of and they never use.

Any suggestions for cooking without eggs?

[Jade2561]

I'm not a huge fan of egg replacer myself. Have you tried using flax seeds instead of eggs. I find the consistency is much better.

1 tbsp ground flaz seeds+2 tbsp = 1 egg

[eco_mama]

Originally Posted by wildtigercubs

I read somewhere that chickens eggs are effectively a chickens period when they are unfertilised (GROSS!!!!).

I heard this too!

I've been staying away from eggs the past few months. (Actually, I'm trying to get down to vegan) And it's been pretty easy for us just to stay away from recipes that call for eggs. I don't like the egg replacer either. So if someething calls for eggs, I just move on and look for something else.

[eco_mama]

Originally Posted by Jade2561

I'm not a huge fan of egg replacer myself. Have you tried using flax seeds instead of eggs. I find the consistency is much better.

1 tbsp ground flaz seeds+2 tbsp = 1 egg

Oh, cool. So 3tbsp of flax seeds = 1 egg. Right?

[meowee]

It's not so much that eggs are bad for you-- it's that vegan food is so much better for you. Sure, eggs contain protein and some vitamins but are they as antioxidant rich as a simple sprout of broccoli? They are a good source of B12 and Riboflavin but B12 can be gotten from supplements, and riboflavin can be gotten from spinach and some other greens. When you eat vegan food, especially raw, you are consuming life. There is nothing alive in a cooked egg.

In terms of the ethical factor, an egg is a life that should have been. By keeping the eggs unfertilized (usually they are) and by stealing the eggs before they could hatch, you are taking away a life. And even some unfertilized eggs contain blood, and fertilized eggs often do. You're pretty much consuming undeveloped flesh when you eat an egg... it's a substance that would have turned into flesh if you left it alone.

If I'm not mistaken, hindus will eat dairy but not eggs. This to me always indicated that eggs are on the same level as flesh, ethically, when it comes to food.

[meowee]

ps-- I never use egg replacer... I usually use 2 tbs of vinegar to replace an egg in a baking recipe. There are some fantastic crazy cake recipes out there... I think it's just a matter of finding the right one.

[HelloKitty]

Originally Posted by vermontgirl

I made my husband a chocolate birthday cake for his birthday and I made it dairy-free but I couldnt make it egg-free because I know it would have ruined it.

I posted here awhile back about a birthday cake and got the most amazing chocolate cake recipe in response (I will find the thread for you in a minute), the texture is to die for, seriously. Better than all the omni cakes I use to make.

I still have yet to find a really good egg free brownie recipe though. I'm on a quest for that.

[HelloKitty]

Here's the thread:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions...chocolate+cake

[amyleigh33]

Originally Posted by vermontgirl

I totally agree with all of you-and I know that I dont need eggs to be healthy. I just really like to use them for baking. I have used egg replacer for things and it ruins the consistancy. I made my husband a chocolate birthday cake for his birthday and I made it dairy-free but I couldnt make it egg-free because I know it would have ruined it.

I know that eggs are a chickens menstrual cycle but that doesnt gross me out. That probably means that they dont care if we take them-since they are something their body gets rid of and they never use.

Any suggestions for cooking without eggs?

I don't use egg replacer at all for chocolate cake. The "Chocolate Crazy Cake" recipe that there is like 20 different versions of on VegWeb.com and it's all over the internet, too (personally, I use the recipe on the Foods That Don't Bite Back cookbook), is the most delicious cake I've ever made and it turns perfectly every time. Nobody can even tell that it doesn't have eggs. Egg replacer or corn starch doesn't usually do anything, from what I can tell, in most recipes. It seems to be OK in cookies, but useless in cake or muffins.