Proof That Eggs Are Infanticide
"As long as people will shed the blood of innocent creatures, there can be no peace, no liberty, no harmony between people. Slaughter and justice cannot dwell together."
–Isaac Bashevis Singer
*Disclaimer
As I've said in the first two parts of this series, my intention is not to call farmers murderers or to imply that they somehow enjoy killing baby chickens. I don't blame them for everything that is wrong with the system. The purpose of this is to bring awareness to the suffering of animals in industrial agriculture. Please refer to "Proof That Diary is Rape" and "Proof That Meat is Murder" for more information.
Definitions
Infanticide: Or infant homicide, the act of killing a child less than one year old.
Chick culling: The process of killing unwanted male chicks in egg production, including in cage-free, free-range, and organic operations.[1, 2]
Chicks are "sexed" almost immediately after birth at a hatchery, and the boys and girls are separated. At just one day old, nearly all the males are culled, generally through maceration, toxic gas, or suffocation.
Important Note
While you may hear about humane slaughter -- or maybe you believed that organic and cage-free eggs equated humane treatment -- please be aware that chickens are exempt from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.[3] Considering chickens are the most exploited land animals in this country, used for both egg and meat production, that means billions of lives are created and killed with absolutely no regard for their wellbeing (not that I'd ever intend to suggest that "humane slaughter" is in any way justified). This is why the most common way to kill baby boys is by shredding them alive: because they're not viewed by the law as actually being alive.
Do the Math
The average natural lifespan of a chicken is about three to ten years, while the average lifespan of a human is about 80 years. One year is 1.25 percent of a human's average lifespan, but one year could be as much as 33 percent of a chicken's lifespan. Since years aren't comparable between chickens and humans, as humans live significantly longer, for chick culling to be considered infanticide, they must be killed within 1.25 percent of their natural lifespan. Even using the smallest possible lifespan average for a chicken (three years old), 1.25 percent of three years is still about two weeks. Therefore, a chicken killed at younger than two weeks old (as boys are when culled) would be a victim of infanticide.
What Are Eggs?
Just like in humans, chicken eggs are unfertilized eggs passed through a hen's body. This is often referred to as "chicken periods" because the process serves the same basic purpose as human women's menstruation. However, chickens in the natural world would lay an egg approximately 17 times a year, and their bodies go through significantly more stress from pushing a much larger egg out through their cloacas. Naturally, it would take a long time to form the egg in a hen's body, but through selective breeding, hens now lay an egg almost every day, averaging between 200 and 300 eggs per year. Even at "only" 200 a year, that's nearly twelve times more eggs than a hen should be laying. Through this constant process of forming and excreting eggs, hens develop significant health issues, primarily bone diseases and weakness as substantial amounts of calcium are leached from their little bodies to form the eggs.
In addition, as with dairy, eggs are not a slaughter-free product -- even if you ignore the whole chick culling part at the beginning of the entire process. Within a year or two, as the chickens' bodies start to break down beyond repair and are no longer capable of secreting as many eggs, they are sent to the slaughterhouse. (Often, however, many hens succumb before even making it that far.) Their flesh, old and worn, is generally labeled as "unfit for human consumption" and is used in companion animal food, cheap meat products (like fast food), or fed back to chickens, cows, and other farm animals. The intention of agriculture is that no animal on a farm will ever escape slaughter.
Backyard Hens
Though the idea of having backyard hens sounds ideal for both us and the chickens, it's more idealistic than realistic. The chicks have to come from somewhere, and the somewhere they nearly always come from are hatcheries. If you recall, these hatcheries are where the chicks are sexed and the males are culled. Clearly, if we don't want to support that practice, we shouldn't be buying chickens. However, even if you happened to adopt a chicken or took in some hens from a friend that couldn't care for them anymore, there are still a few more reasons why we should avoid eggs.
First, eggs are incredibly unhealthy. It is actually illegal for the egg industry to refer to eggs as healthy, nutritious, a good source of protein, or anything remotely similar. (Please watch this informative nutritionfacts.org video for more information.) They are full of saturated fat and cholesterol, two of the main contributors to our top killers like heart disease, diabetes, and various forms of cancer.
Second, hens, given the opportunity, will actually eat the eggs they lay to reabsorb some of the calcium they lost. If you already have backyard hens, try boiling the eggs (or leaving them raw, if that's what they prefer) and giving them back to the chickens. Even if you have the best intentions, backyard hens' health will quickly deteriorate from the same diseases as factory-farmed hens, generally within a year or so.
Third, eggs don't belong to us. Animals don't belong to us. Every creature of every species has a purpose on the planet; we all are meant to exist in harmony. When we start to view others as objects from which we can gain something to better our own lives, we are disrupting the balance of nature. Chickens weren't designed to be egg-laying machines for humans; if they were, eggs certainly wouldn't be so harmful to our health, and we wouldn't feel so bad about all the dirty little secrets in the egg-farming industry. Chickens' eggs belong to chickens to do with them as they please. It's not our place to determine what other beings do with their bodies.
Alternatives
Eggs are a common breakfast staple, usually paired with bacon or sausage and toast. Instead of chicken eggs, try JUST Egg, VeganEgg, or other packaged egg replacements. For a healthier alternative, you can make a tofu scramble -- a delicious meal fit for any time of day. Either way, you can still pair your vegan eggs with plant-based bacon or sausage and some vegan butter on toast. As far as baking goes, there are many alternatives for eggs. While you can use some packaged egg replacements like the VeganEgg or Bob's Red Mill's Egg Replacer, the simplest and cheapest options are likely already in your home. The most common alternatives, depending on what you're baking and personal preference, are applesauce, bananas, and flax eggs (ground flaxseed mixed with water). With these easy substitutes, we can make eggs obsolete!
be conscious, be kind, be vegan
[1] "Male Chick Culling: Are Male Chicks Killed in Broiler Production?"
[2] "Treated Like Garbage, These Chicks Are Burned, Drowned, and Walked On"