being vegetarian and eating eggs

Hello everyone,

I  am having an issue that I am struggling with and would like to hear other vegetrians take on eating eggs and still calling themselves vegetarian.

I am not trying to offend everyone, just trying to find out more information.

Eggs come from a chicken and you eat it, are you not eating an animal? My non veggie friend said it was ok because eggs are not fertailzed and therefore are not an animal. But I just still cannot comprehend how it is ok.  If you do not eat fish, would you eat caviar, fish oil? How is it you would not eat a chicken or fish, but eat the eggs?

If you consider yourself a vegetarian and you eat eggs, how do you justify it being ok. I may be only talking to veggies that are because of moral issues, not sure, please let me know.

Thanks to all

Original Post by pumpkin314:

Hi Sashabee,

What is it like to have chickens?  Are they hard to take care of?  Are they friendly and sociable?  Do you have roosters, too?  Do they wake you up?  Do they get sick often?

Sorry for the barrage of off-topic (sort of) questions...I'm just really curious. 

 I live at home and my mother has quite a few hens.
The hens are fine, it is the roosters that are annoying and crow.
Luckily I'm not a light sleeper so I usually sleep right through.
You are not allowed roosters in town limits in New Zealand, but you are allowed a number of hens.
They aren't hard to take care of!
If they are set up in a large run with lots of plants and grass, they will find various insects to eat.
They'll eat food scraps and if you are worried you aren't providing them with enough food scraps you can always give them pellets or corn.
If living conditions aren't too cramped, they shouldn't get sick.
Not all chickens will be friendly, however some do have more friendly personalities than others.
For instance, my sister had a little golden bantem hen called Henny Penny who would let her 2 year old son pat her occasionally.
She roamed freely in their backyard.
Bantem hens are very broody and motherly so my mum usually has one or two to sit on the other chickens fertalized eggs, since the other chickens aren't always that keen on the job...

Anyway, there is a bunch of random information!

i'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian so eat milk and eggs.. i don't have much more to say than that, other than the thought of eggs as 'chicken periods' made me feel ever so slightly nauseous..

and useless as a human being. seriously, why aren't our periods that productive?

Hang on, an egg is not an animal even if it is fertilised.

It ain't an animal until it breaks out of the shell.

I've been vegetarian for ages, and I've thought about the ethics of pain caused to chickens. I make sure to source my eggs ethically. But I couldn't care less if the happy free-range chicken ever met a cockerel and had a scorching love-affair with him.

I'd be much more concerned about what happens to the chicken at the end of its life. Therein lies the dilemma of the veggie. I know that it will be killed, even if I don't eat it. And as an egg-eating vegetarian, I am contributing to that. I freely admit it.

But anyone who thinks they are doing no harm to animals when they go vegetarian is living in a dream world. Modern agriculture destroys life. It harms the environment.   Trucks run over cute furry animals as they transport our runner beans. This can't be avoided unless you are growing all your food, and watching for the worms and bugs.

I gave up meat, because at very little inconvenience to myself, I stop (some of my) participation in a lot of suffering. I haven't given up on eggs (fertilized or otherwise). I salute those who have.

Original Post by restless_girl:

Original Post by pumpkin314:

Hi Sashabee,

What is it like to have chickens?  Are they hard to take care of?  Are they friendly and sociable?  Do you have roosters, too?  Do they wake you up?  Do they get sick often?

Sorry for the barrage of off-topic (sort of) questions...I'm just really curious. 

 I live at home and my mother has quite a few hens.
The hens are fine, it is the roosters that are annoying and crow.
Luckily I'm not a light sleeper so I usually sleep right through.
You are not allowed roosters in town limits in New Zealand, but you are allowed a number of hens.
They aren't hard to take care of!
If they are set up in a large run with lots of plants and grass, they will find various insects to eat.
They'll eat food scraps and if you are worried you aren't providing them with enough food scraps you can always give them pellets or corn.
If living conditions aren't too cramped, they shouldn't get sick.
Not all chickens will be friendly, however some do have more friendly personalities than others.
For instance, my sister had a little golden bantem hen called Henny Penny who would let her 2 year old son pat her occasionally.
She roamed freely in their backyard.
Bantem hens are very broody and motherly so my mum usually has one or two to sit on the other chickens fertalized eggs, since the other chickens aren't always that keen on the job...

Anyway, there is a bunch of random information!

hmm, interesting, thanks for sharing. my mother said she used to have a pet rooster. he would follow her all over the place.

I've been a veggie for almost a year now, but my goal is to become a veagn. So as of now I do eat eggs & dairy, so I'm a Lato-ovo vegetarian. I do feel wrong for eating eggs but I'm taking the lifestyle change one step at a time. I try not to judge others but the veggies that eat FISH do bother me some. But to each his own meaning of the word. I'm proud of all of us for making the change, fish and eggs including it's still a postive move towards change!

PEACE :)

Original Post by mermaidgirl2:

 I try not to judge others but the veggies that eat FISH do bother me some. But to each his own meaning of the word. I'm proud of all of us for making the change, fish and eggs including it's still a postive move towards change!

PEACE :)

well then you have nothing to be bothered about as only pescetarians eat fish.

I'm refering to those who say they are vegetarian but eat seafood. I work at a restaurant and when someone comes in and says they are a vegetarian I love helping them fined a meal from our very limited selection. Several times I have gone out of my way to give suggestions and ways to alter the menu and the person decides on a  seafood dish. I'm fully aware of the definition of a pescetarian, but thanks for your input.

PEACE :)

Original Post by mermaidgirl2:

I'm refering to those who say they are vegetarian but eat seafood. I work at a restaurant and when someone comes in and says they are a vegetarian I love helping them fined a meal from our very limited selection. Several times I have gone out of my way to give suggestions and ways to alter the menu and the person decides on a seafood dish. I'm fully aware of the definition of a pescetarian, but thanks for your input.

PEACE :)

ok i understand. it does just confuse people when they say veg but eat fish, there are a few threads about it.

Personally, I eat eggs. It's not an issue for me because the eggs I eat are from our own chickens, and I can rest assured knowing that they're not battery cage hens. They run around the yards, we feed them scraps etc, and are overall very happy chickens. [Also, chickens are lovely pets - they're easy to care for as long as they have space to roam and somewhere safe to be locked in at night, trust me- they don't run away from home]

If I don't use the eggs, the snakes will.

http://www.goveg.com/factoryFarming.asp

I don't eat eggs. ****' gross. I agree with you, it's a dead animal.

I personally don't eat eggs, but I also don't go around at restaurants asking, "Are there eggs in your cake or bread or pasta?"  I don't choose to eat scrambled eggs, hardboiled eggs, whatever, I don't eat eggs in any form that you can see them, but if someone put them in a cake or in their bread, I'm not going to not eat it unless it tastes like a farm.

Eggs are a wonderful source of protein and as previously stated the chicken will produce them if we eat them or not. Eggs are a gift of nature.

I'm fortunate enough that there is a family just outside of town that has some chickens and sells fresh eggs. I'm sure if anyone was listening the would think I was nuts but the ladies are over in the shade with their big penned area and house strolling around. I always thank them for their eggs when I go out.

Nothing like a hard boiled egg when you get home from the gym or exercising to help take the edge off the "I HAVE TO EAT NOW" hunger pangs.

If a chicken lays an egg, and it's unfertilized. It will sit there and rot away.

Original Post by okkervil:

I don't eat eggs. ****' gross. I agree with you, it's a dead animal.

i suppose when you really think about & make comparisons to ourselves, eating eggs is gross. its like eating a bigger version of when our monthly friend comes around (with out all the bodily fluid stuff). altho sometimes i would rather just lay an egg in a couple of hours instead of days & days of cramps. (sorry to you sqeamish folks out there)

altho biologically speaking, it's not a dead animal, if unfertilized, anymore than you have a million tiny 'people' in your ovaries.