So you're arguing that if not for the demand for their meat, the chickens would be permitted to live longer despite the drop in their egg count? Or that breeding practices would change and peak egg count would be extended, and they still would not be killed when it decreases despite it being more economically efficient? And the male chicks that are bred, which are of no economic interest whatsoever would be maintained why exactly?

That's one point I haven't really emphasised up until now, the male chicks that are killed at birth because they are of no economic interest to the egg industry.

Last edited by thecite (2011 March 26, 9:27 am)

Yeah, and in dog foods and other low grade foods, I believe.

And on that note, if you're going to keep a pet chicken, why not try and adopt a rescued one from a factory farm? Plenty of chickens in need.

If there's a way to determine a chick's sex well before it hatches, the industry certainly hasn't discovered it, and I can't imagine such a painstaking process of checking every egg would ever be practical anyway.

Last edited by thecite (2011 March 26, 9:49 am)

IceCream wrote:

Anyway, i'm not planning on keeping chickens any time soon, you could though...
but i probably wouldn't save a chicken from a factory farm even then. I don't eat factory farmed eggs if i can help it not just for ethical reasons, but also health reasons. If i was going to keep a chicken for eggs it would be a healthy one... it's not like a dog or a cat or something...

It was more a general suggestion to anyone reading this thread than to you particularly. It isn't too difficult to nurse a factory farm chicken back to perfect health, although it would obviously depend on the condition of the bird, I know a few fellow vegans who have done so (and they eat their eggs which would otherwise go to waste, so they're not technically vegans ).

Forks Over Knives 1  2  3  4  5