Could a moral vegan eat eggs from backyard chickens?

Well, you are a fun one. I will answer even though you are a smart alec.

There is a BIG difference between using a computer that MIGHT have an animal product in it and deciding to EAT eggs from a chicken that just happened to be raised in the way that you find acceptable. The latter does NOT allow you to continue to claim veganism. Also, to cut you off at the pass, what if you honestly accidentally ingest some bacon because you didn't know it was in the food? Well, you still get to claim veganism because that was certainly your intent to not eat animal products, but you can not DECIDE to eat eggs and claim veganism just because you are ok with how the chickens were raised.

So, go back to the comment from the poster I responded to (perhaps it was you) - "My bro is Vegan 100 % for moral reasons and he eats eggs from chickens from a women who has 2 chickens- he doesn't feel guilty over this"

Sorry - not Vegan.

Flagpole wrote:

The definition of Vegan is "a person who does not eat or use animal products."

My experience is that vegans will be willfully ignorant as to whether the product in question is an animal product at an arbitrary point when it becomes too inconvenient to find out and/or deal with.

It is difficult to be ignorant that an egg is an animal product though.

I think the OP has asked the wrong question. A 'vegan' can't eat eggs but someone who is an advocate against the unethical treatment of animals can.

A neighbor of mine keeps bees. He treats them as if they're his pets, it's amazing. He does ship some of them down south in the winter.

For what it's worth, in many areas when there is an accident with the bee transporting trucks, there is a response team of bee keepers that come in and take the queens and put them in boxes. The rest of the bees will follow their queen, and they're all taken away and sent wherever they're supposed to go. They're not sprayed, not killed.

The best solution for you would be to buy local honey from someone who treats their bees in a way that you're comfortable with. You could also try keeping them yourself. It is actually a pretty easy thing to do. They don't require a lot of maintenance.

To answer the OP: Yes, the ethical considerations that lead many people to being vegan are consistent with eating eggs from a backyard chicken. (Considerations like not wanting to chop up animals and eat them, or to purchase animal byproducts that fund a system where animals are kept as poorly treated prisoners at a high cost in societal resources.)

I know several people who identify as vegans, and I don't think any of them would have a problem with eating eggs from backyard chickens. And I don't think that doing this would strike them as un-vegan, or make them reconsider their identification with this label.

To those yelling "but vegan means you don't eat eggs!!!", geesh, enough already. You're being immature and uninformative. The OP was asking if the term can be used more flexibly, to mean eating according to certain moral considerations (those that oppose eating animal products in normal circumstances). And the answer is that yes, at least sometimes that is the way the term is used.

By definition this would now make them a moral vegetarian.

says the vegan baby killer wrote:

19 year vegan wrote:

It's okay about liking foies gras, I'm not very squeemish. 10 years working at an abortion clinic helped with that one. Speaking of "mishaps", you don't even want to know the kind of cleanup they have at one of those.

Can you say irony?

Can you say 'Head slap - Can't believe I didn't get it the first time!'?

I give this thread a 9/10

Sorry, but there is nothing immature or uninformed about saying a person who eats eggs isn't vegan. Vegan has a definition, and either you meet it or you don't. They can say that they are "mostly Vegan" or that they typically eat a "Vegan diet", or that "I'm very close to being vegan; I only eat eggs and only from my two backyard chickens", but if they eat eggs on purpose, then they are not vegan, no matter where the eggs come from.

People who use the term as you are suggesting are not using it correctly.

Sorry.

I don't know for sure, but I think the problem vegans have with eggs in a situation like this isn't the current hen's quality of life or the egg not being fertilized. It is the idea that for all the baby hens (i.e potential egg-layers) that are hatched, there are as many baby roosters, and the vast majority of roosters don't typically live humane (or long) lives, even in the best of environments.

Vegan bro wrote:

Not sure he cares about labels- his goal is to not feel guilty when eating- pretty simple really

Well, that's cool. Good for him (seriously). Just then so that neither of you are wrong, he shouldn't refer to himself as "Vegan" (though you never said he did), and you shouldn't either.

Backyard chickens eat WORMS!

Not exactly VEGAN!!

Vegan bro wrote:

Again- he really could care less what label he is given...

So, you're saying that he cares somewhat? Perhaps you think he cares quite a bit. Sorry, but saying that he could care less leaves it a bit too wide open. Just tell us - how much would you say he cares?

Backyard Worm wrote:

Backyard chickens eat WORMS!

Not exactly VEGAN!!

Venus flytraps eat insects. Can you eat those and be vegan?

Asker of penetrating questions wrote:

Backyard Worm wrote:

Backyard chickens eat WORMS!

Not exactly VEGAN!!

Venus flytraps eat insects. Can you eat those and be vegan?

You can eat the wild ones all you want. Just don't keep any in your house.

Here's an article that argues that vegans are morally obligated to eat insects if they care about preventing animal suffering.

http://www.psmag.com/health-and-behavior/vegans-obligated-eat-insects-93767

Yeah I know people who will do this although they don't usually call themselves vegan

But others will not on the basis that any keeping animals for your own purposes is not in the spirit of veganism

It's difficult because wild chickens aren't very common

And what if it's a rescued chicken?

Personally as a vegan I would not keep chickens but if I knew somebody who did, looked after them and had extra eggs then I might consider having some if offered, whereas I wouldn't with store-bought

I think you lose your taste for animal products pretty quickly though. A lot of people, vegan or not, find eggs yucky

It's awful that the term 'vegan' immediately makes so many people squirm. I'm a vegan, and I get it. Most vegans I've met have been self-righteous, uninformed, and obnoxious. However, there are vegans out there who just eat simple foods and go about their lives without making it the focal point of their existence. You just don't hear from them become they're not on the street screaming about animals all day.

To pipe in here, though, many vegans, myself included, avoid eating meat for moral reasons, but avoid eating eggs and dairy for dietary reasons. I do not think it would be immoral for someone to eat the eggs of a backyard chicken. But I also believe dietary cholesterol is not healthy in the long-term (mixed studies on this), so I never eat eggs. It's not a black-and-white issue with everything.

And no one can be 100% vegan in terms of lifestyle while still functioning in society. Roads have animals products in them. Mice are killed in grain fields. There's no winning. However, the choice not to eat an animal that can experience emotion is still an admirable one, even if you still take the highway to work every day.

veganrunner23 wrote:

... However, the choice not to eat an animal that can experience emotion is still an admirable one, even if you still take the highway to work every day.

Good post.

I am wondering if this last sentence is true though. Every animal will die no matter what you do or don't do. Is it better for them to die of disease, starvation or perhaps at the 'hands' of a particularly 'savage' predator (think being eaten alive) rather than experience near instantaneous death by gunshot?

So, is betting on the horses or at the dog track a violation of veganism? What if the horses or dogs truly enjoy running?What if you won a few bucks at this activity, and then bought a tofu burger at the snack bar?I's gots to know.

Flagpole wrote:

Then he is not Vegan. There are REASONS a person becomes a vegan, and they can be ANYTHING. The most popular reasons are health reasons, don't believe eating animals or animal products is helpful to the environment, don't believe eating animals or animal products is efficient, believe that animals suffer either by being slaughtered or in the way they are kept.

BUT, if you eat an animal or eat or use animal products, even if it is in one exceptional case, then you are no longer a Vegan. Doesn't matter that the exception falls within an acceptable allowance. The definition of Vegan is "a person who does not eat or use animal products." It is NOT "a person who does not eat or use animal products unless that animal or animal product comes from a source that is acceptable to them."