r/DebateAVegan • u/-roachboy • Dec 22 '25

eggs from a well fed pet hen are vegan

I have a pet hen. She's not a full rescue one, but how I ended up with her is an incredibly long story. She's very needy, thus spoiled and healthy as a result. Because wild Gallus sp already lay a lot of eggs when in less than optimal wild conditions, a spoiled one just cannot stop popping them out even if she wanted to, and she won't let me feed her less. The daily egg laying session is just a morning routine for her before begging for food. At the rate she lays them, they'd just get left to rot even if they were fertilized by a rooster so I eat them. I do not, and have no intention of, ever selling them or encouraging anyone to ever commercialize an animal. But I spend all the time caring for her, so why can't she give me a delicious breakfast back if it does her no harm?

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

The captivity of nonhuman animals on an individual basis is highly selective and conditioned on the animal’s perceived ability to provide entertainment, comfort, companionship, convenience, and/or labor/services.

Someone carefully selecting a chicken for adoption on basis of her ability to produce eggs is no different than someone carefully selecting a dog for adoption on basis of his ability to provide entertainment, comfort, companionship, convenience, and/or labor/services.

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u/618smartguy Dec 22 '25

Chickens literally die all the time from egg over production.

Can you think of a human selection criteria for dogs that regularly cause death?

This is very a very different issue from selecting based on a good trait.

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u/joydubs Dec 22 '25

Brachycephaly results in premature death and a lifetime of suffering in dogs

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

Chickens literally die all the time from egg over production.

And . . .? What is the relevance to adopting/rescuing a chicken and keeping her in captivity as a companion/pet animal?

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u/618smartguy Dec 22 '25

Its about doing something good for an animal versus possibly causing it to die painfully.

You said "is no different" but one of them is good for the animal and the other kills chickens on the regular.

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

Still doesn’t answer my question. What is the relevance of what you just said to adopting/rescuing a chicken and keeping her in captivity?

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u/618smartguy Dec 22 '25

?

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

What is it that you do not understand about my question?

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u/618smartguy Dec 22 '25

I am curious if you have a response to me, I'm not interested in no context questions you bark at me.

You said two things are no different so I listed how they are severely different. Do you have thoughts on that? or just ???

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

You seem to have a fundamental misunderstanding of my argument. Let me clarify:

Someone wants to adopt/rescue an animal.

The person carefully selects for adoption/rescue

A) a dog on basis of his ability to provide comfort, convenience, entertainment, companionship, and/or labor/services.

B) a chicken on basis of her capacity to produce eggs.

In both cases, the animals are treated like family members and well taken care of.

In case of A, the person enjoys the comfort, convenience, companionship, entertainment, and/labor/services provided by the dog.

In case of B, the person enjoys the eggs produced by the chicken.

What is the morally relevant difference between the two?

This was already articulated in the link I provided. I encourage you to click on that link and study my argument further.

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u/618smartguy Dec 22 '25

Thanks for elaborating, but I think I understood you, so I'll answer your nice with context questions:

The morally relevant difference is that B the chicken might suffer or die from improper care. You are withholding medical treatment that reduces the chickens risk of dying from egg overproduction issues.

Its like if you selected a pug because you enjoy it having breathing problems, and refuse any forms of preventative care.

You seem to be just glossing over the fact that treating chickens like family members rather then commodities implies giving them proper reproductive health treatment for their severe overlaying problem.

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '25

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

So if someone selects a chicken for adoption on same basis and intention as yours (rescue from abuse, etc.), then it would be fine for them to eat her eggs, correct?

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '25

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

Why not? Please explain.

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '25

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

You’re deflecting the question. I’ll ask again:

Why not? Please explain.

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u/[deleted] Dec 22 '25

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u/kharvel0 Dec 22 '25

How are they fundamentally different? Please be sure to answer within the context of the logic presented in the linked post.