Would you use animal products if...

[NeoEvaX]

You may be right. I just layed out, really, the only case that would cause me to eat eggs.

I am vegan, mainly, for environmental reasons. Don't get me wrong, I am extremely for animal rights and I think the farming industry is completely screwed up. I would rather everyone be vegan... but I still think of wasted food as worse.

Its a very fine line, I know. But if by me eating something that will go to waste, as long as the by me eating it does not cause MORE suffering. Ie: Someone buys too many chicken breasts.. They will go bad, so they make an extra one.. They offer it to me. I would turn it down, because they need to learn to buy less chicken (or none) not just assume I will eat the leftovers.

But a chicken that is already alive, and taken care of, lays too many eggs (which we cant stop them from doing) I would rather eat those eggs then them just go to waste. If you had a well taken for rescue chicken who you took care of, what would you do with the eggs? Just toss them?

Its a very very fine line.. And to be totally honest, the chickens on our property are old now and don't lay eggs, so I have not even had any. I am just saying that is the circumstances that I would.

Then again, I am a newish vegan.. I still consider animal products food. I just don't eat them because its terrible for the animals, the environment, and I can live perfectly well (better even!) without them. I am making the choice for a better lifestyle and a better earth.

[xrodolfox]

But a chicken that is already alive, and taken care of, lays too many eggs (which we cant stop them from doing) I would rather eat those eggs then them just go to waste. If you had a well taken for rescue chicken who you took care of, what would you do with the eggs? Just toss them?

From my understanding, chickens don't "lay too many eggs". Chickens don't lay eggs like humans grow hair. Chickens don't grow and lay eggs recreationally and in surplus. Chickens take the huge process of creating an egg because of reproductive needs. When eggs are unused, they are consumed by the chicken in an attempt to recoup the energy, nutrients, and other expenses taken out when creating an egg. Taking eggs is not at all like keeping broken sea shells found on the beach, nor at all like keeping shed skin from a snake. Taking eggs isn't like keeping a molted feather found in the woods.

Keeping an egg of even the wildest, free-est chicken is more like plucking the feathers from a live goose. Or like cutting off an antler of a wild deer.

If animals had a sense of property, I would put it akin to stealing.

It is a myth that chickens just lay eggs recreationally and let them go sour. Chickens use up a lot of energy making eggs. In fact, chickens do not lay eggs unless they are manipulated to think that reproduction is around the corner (thus the rooster).

I reject that myth, and as such, I reject that idea that taking eggs in any form is anything but ethically precarious if not outright wrong.

[NeoEvaX]

I don't pretend to be an expert about Chickens, I am just going by what my Girlfriend's parent's chickens are like.

There are about 7 of them. They are only females, no rooster involved. They feed the chickens a mix of a ton of seeds and other various things. We go give them plant scraps. When they were young, I am told, they laid eggs almost every day.

My girlfriend is telling me that they would normally eat the eggs to recupe the energy they lost during the production of the egg itself, in the wild, but she has never seen them eat any of the eggs they have laid. They tend to prefer the food we give them. My GFs parents have never seen that either.

I can understand the logic you said about taking eggs is like stealing. I am not sure what these chickens would do if we kept feeding them but didnt take their eggs. Would they eat them, or would they go bad? I am not sure.

Either way, these chickens live a pretty good life. They get to run around and dig in the dirt. There is a big area they can roam, but they tend to stay near the coop. We let them out almost every day. I love hearing them clucking and moving around outside.

I am not trying to defend any actions or anything. I have yet to eat any of their eggs, and even if I did it would be a very rare thing. Hopefully my thoughts dont make anyone angry. I want the best for the animals and maybe I dont know enough to justify what I am saying. Learning as I go

[etherspin]

even so called wasted eggs , milk etc aren't truly waste, chickens go mad for their own eggs if you crack them open, presumably cause of all the lost nutrients from an almost daily ,simulated pregnancy/period ... there is no efficient way to glean animal products in a nice fashion, even if the cruelty is more insidious and hidden in the form of warped genetics that create what is a crippled,uncomfortable mockery of the version of the animal which existed in the wild.

[Hiking Fox]

1)If there was a chance that you could use milk and/or eggs that were without a doubt made what you consider a somewhat "natural" way, would you eat/drink said products?

No, because:

a. There's no such thing as free range slavery.
b. I would not spend my money on the products of slavery (with one key exception, see below) as it funds further slavery.
c. I don't want such things churning around in my body.

2) Why/Why not?

See above.

The one exception is where not using an animal product could cause serious harm to myself or an animal or child that I have chosen to become responsible for looking after. e.g. vaccinations are tested on animals and contain animal products. Some minor compromises are necessary in life, unfortunately.