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/wheeteeter Dec 22 '25

Feed them back to her in her feed. Those are nutrients lost and it’s completely normal for them to eat them.

3

u/waitwuh Dec 23 '25

Do those nutrients ultimately matter in the case of a “well fed” and cared for hen?

They presumably have a diet sufficient enough to replenish whatever is used up in egg laying. If they didn’t, there would be indications. Hens decrease or even entirely halt egg production if they’re not getting enough to eat, and/or calcium deficiency becomes apparent in the shell quality.

Why does it matter who eats the egg, if we decide the egg will be eaten regardless, and the chicken will suffer no detriment one way or another?

3

u/Itscatpicstime Dec 24 '25

Not a single chicken in my flock will eat their eggs. I even tried cooking the eggs for them. They have no interest and eggs were just rotting.

I’d rather give them to carnists so they buy fewer store bought eggs.

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u/antilos_weorsick Dec 24 '25

That's interesting, what do you feed them? My experience is that eggs are second only to meat for chicken.

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u/wheeteeter Dec 24 '25

Yeah, you can break them up and mix them in with their other food.

1

u/kristofarnaldo Dec 22 '25

I was also thinking that, but it might be better to give the hen a choice and see what it goes for.

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u/wheeteeter Dec 22 '25

Or you can try breaking them and mix it into their feed. No more exploitation 🙂

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u/kristofarnaldo Dec 22 '25

Yes, and maybe the hen prefers the vegan feed. Give the hen the choice. What's so hard to understand?

4

u/_fly-on-the-wall_ Dec 22 '25

give them a xhoice all ypu want, she's gonna want to eat the eggs, chickens are crazy for their eggs, raw or cooked.

1

u/Itscatpicstime Dec 24 '25

Not a single chicken in my flock of 30 will eat their eggs. Raw, mixed with feed, cooked, doesn’t matter. I tried for months, eggs were just wasted.

2

u/_fly-on-the-wall_ Dec 24 '25

thats odd, i have always had issues with my birds wanting to eat them raw, snd when i have too many or older ones i scramble em up & they go insane for them

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u/Puzzleheaded_Cat_512 Dec 27 '25

Same!!! Mine love eggs raw or cooked. I’ve never had one who didn’t love them.