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I am not sure why you feel so guilty as your description of how chickens are kept would not lead to any significant egg production. When kept in the dark chickens do not lay eggs, they basically sleep and may occasionally eat and drink. Chickens lay eggs during the day which means, of course, that they must have light. That indicates that the video you saw was not an accurate depiction of how chickens are treated which means that the truth of all of the information presented in it is open to a legitimate challenge.
I grew up around both dairy and chicken farms and am aware of how they were treated. That is one reason why I often have issues with these so called videos that you commonly find on YouTube. I have seen some that are obviously manufactured to the point where the abuse the animals received was obviously staged, which does not speak well for the producers of the video. I could, for example, show you pictures of chickens jammed together which looks terrible. But if I showed the entire photo you would see large expanses of empty space and the chickens all crowded together because they apparently wanted to. That is an example and I am not saying it is true in all cases, just that you have to be aware that videos can be made in such a way as to present a certain point of view.
Eggs, as you state, are an important source of many different nutrients for people and superior to any vegan alternatives which use artificially produced nutrients to replace those found naturally in animal products including dairy and eggs.
I don't know what kind of documentary you saw but you need a reality check.
there is no way they keep laying hens in the dark because they won't lay. In the dark, chickens sleep. They then do not take in enough feed to allow their bodies to even produce an egg. THATS why farmers have lights int he chicken coop in the winter when the days are shorter.
How do you suppose they are mistreated? Beaten?no..whats the point. Not fed? Again, whats the point? No food no eggs. Crowded a bit, sure. THAT part I am not wild about either but the rest is bullshit.
Whether or not anyone else in your house is a vegetarian doesn't matter - vegetarians and non-vegetarians eat eggs and there are no such things as specifically "vegetarian" eggs.
It sounds like maybe the hens producing the store-bought eggs have a better life than yours did! Hens kept in the dark won't lay any eggs at all and keeping laying hens in overcrowded conditions or mistreating them isn't a good idea if the owner wants to make any money from selling eggs! There is a film called Chicken Run (Aardman Animations) which sounds as if it gives a more realistic view of how chickens are kept!
We are lucky enough to have our own hens - we have two dogs too but we don't let them near the hens - but if we need to we just buy "free range" eggs produced at a local farm. The term "free range" is mis-used a lot but is certainly better than keeping hens in the conditiobs you describe.
If you know of any hens (or any animals at all) being kept in the conditions you describe it is your DUTY to report it to the authorities (to me, if you don't you are guilty too). Otherwise, if you want to eat eggs buy them from a responsible source and eat them, if you don't want to eat eggs, don't.
Update: I'm not really interested in the hens in the "documentary" you saw and since I didn't see it I can't comment but the hens producing the eggs you buy in the shop are still alive and must be reasonably well looked after or they simply wouldn't lay any eggs. Your own hens were killed by your dog! I'm sure the death of the hens wasn't intentional but if I was in your place I certainly wouldn't feel I could criticise the way whoever supplied the eggs you eat looked after their animals.
The farm producing the eggs I buy (when I need to which is rare) is just an ordinary farm producing so-called "free-range" eggs with which they supply local shops. They aren't any more expensive that any other eggs.
Like I said though, it's up to you. As you can't keep your own hens you have a choice - either eat eggs or don't.
You shouldn't feel bad.
Most store bought eggs are from free range farms nowadays.
The flavor of free range eggs are far superior to cage eggs and the chickens are left roam the properties grounds
which makes It less labor Intensive,so farm management need less staff to feed & clean the chicken coups.
Hens these days are kept in Good conditions. Look for packs which say Free range eggs.
Eating vegan does not have to be expensive, and it's really not hard to stay healthy. You don't need to waste your money on vegan "meat", "cheese", and what not. Vegetables, fruits, beans/legumes, and whole-grains are all very affordable and full of nutrients.
If you like eggs, but hate the cruelty involved, try some of these recipes:
http://freefromharm.org/food-products/delicious-vegan-eggs-recipes/ :)
"Why do I feel so guilty when I eat store bought eggs (vegetarian)?"
There is absolutely no reason to feel guilty about the eggs you eat, as a vegetarian. I'm actually surprised that the eggs are more expensive from the local farms, than in the store. When my late girlfriend I were living in a rural area, Eggs in the store were a dollar fourty nine a dozen, we got them for a dollar a dozen. Granted the price has gone up dramatically recently, but still a local farmer should be less than the cost in the store. During winter months, it production can drop off, mainly due to lack of natural light. Also wasn't hard to slip into a large hen house at night, and "film it," and then claim that this is how they operate. Now with the Ag-gag laws, setting up, and conducting such staged events has become more difficult.
I grew up with chickens being kept, and on Saturday's helping my grandmother on her egg route, for a year. My parents also kept chickens, and like my grandmother, kept the coop lit well or had plenty of windows in it. Like others stated, chickens need light to lay, and a regulated light helps. Also a hen lays one egg about every twenty eight hours. Chickens are also like many other birds, they like to be on a flock together. Even when we let ours out in the mid spring, through the mid fall, they'd stay close together. The excess we didn't need were sold at fourty cents a dozen, in the store, they were sixty cents a dozen. Of course that was more than fourty years ago, but even today the small operations operate much the same.
As for the videos those aren't the hard to stage on a real farm. Those who own, live on, do things has something of a schedule. It doesn't take but a couple of weeks of watching, to see when things are done, and learn the habits of how things are done. Then once that learned going in on say a Sunday morning while everyone is in church, is an easy thing to do. Get the desired footage with someone acting in the role of either the farmer or one of the hands, then once the footage is gotten, make the exist, head somewhere that has the equipment, to edit with, and in all of about two hours with the programs available, edit the footage, and it's done, with a very convincing piece video. It's not like it used to be though where someone had in the late 1980's lug around a twenty pound camera. Then take it to a facility where the editing equipment was at and spend ten to twelve hours editing, the video for release.
Some of the stuff shot today is very amateurish even. I've seen some where two to three frames of black was left. That's something few would notice, unless they have either experience, and/or the training to do and see. I've seen some shoddy work, that would have shamed me, and/or some of my classmates in school for radio and television broadcasting. If we had turned in something like what's posted on YouTube, as an assignment, we'd have gotten a failing grade. Especially with what's available that makes it faster and easier than when I was in school, nearly thirty years ago.
In closing don't feel guilty about eating eggs. I tell those interested in becoming either a vegan or vegetarian, stay away from sites that promotes being vegetarian, vegan or even to remain eating eat, as they're all going to present things that's n their best interest. I tell them to do their research about nutrition, I tell them to use as best possible sources that are about medical nutrition. Even government agencies in some cases the head can be biased, and make claims as one head did of an agency top promote the vegetarian diet. If you want the real truth, go to a real farm, and spend some hours there, and not just a day or two, but if possible week or two. It can really be an eye opening experience if approached with an open mind, and not looking for abuse at every possible opportunity.
There are some commercial brands that feed their birds better foods (making a more nutritious egg) and house their birds more humanely. Those eggs will be more expensive, but look them over, the price difference will not always be huge.
Do be aware, words like 'Free Range', 'Natural', etc, may not always mean what you think they do. I'm a big proponent of doing a little research into the issues I find important, and finding out how a farm, manufacturer, etc, operates.
Why feel bad? Chickens are man made, they are made to be food therefore they are food. Their only purpose is to be food and to lay eggs.
The hens are largely kept in massive open air sheds and given accesses to the outdoors and are well treated. You can always buy from small farms as well.
You didn't see a documentary, you saw fake shock vids made from old footage.
The documentaries are fake. Anything that comes from PETA is suspect. You've been told by 2 people that have answered already that chickens will not lay eggs if they are in the dark. These people actually live in the country and work with animals I believe. Why are people (especially young people) so willing to believe all this stuff on the internet.
I like eggs and they're a good breakfast food and lots of vitamins and protein, I want to eat them everyday.There is no reason to feel guilty when i eat eggs.The eggs are more expensive from the local farms, than in the store.We know that Eggs ,that are an important source of many different nutrients for people, and also Eggs are not all the good for every day.
Find a source of free-range eggs locally.
you can eat burritos filled with variosu types of beans, vegetables and chilli sauce. also baked beans on toast is a nice breakfast. Chips, Pizzas, Potato wedges, Porridge, avacaoes on toast with chilli powder, veg sausages and peri peri sauce, peppers stuffed with cheese
"ust the thought of the chicken the egg came from made me sick because of those documentaries about where our food comes from. "
You're right about that. Before I stopped eating meat, I stopped eating eggs. I know some of the people here are going to tell you how wrong those docs are, but a simple research project of your own will reveal the truth. I'll include a link or two at the bottom to get you started.
"'d be vegan but it's pretty expensive and hard to stay healthy on them."
Not really. Actually being vegan CAN be cheaper and healthier than being a vegetarian. Lots of people think that the key to being vegan is the mock meats and the substitutes. but you Don't need them. Tofu is cheaper than eggs. and soy milk is about the same price as organic cow's milk. Beans are a very inexpensive and good for you source of protein. Again, i encourage you to do a little research on your own.
"I want to eat eggs because I like eggs and they're a good breakfast food and lots of vitamins and protein, I use to eat them everyday. Does anyone have any other good breakfast food / alternatives? Or just thoughts in general on the matter? "
Eggs are really not all the good for you. Especially not every day. The egg board has a big advertising budget and gotten the idea across that "eggs are essential". But they are not. They are an animal protein and have most of the nutritional benefits of meat, but they also have all the health risks and maybe even a few more.
I gave up eggs before meat because it is just SO easy to substitute for them. a bowl of cold cereal or hot oatmeal are more nutritious, and less expensive, Check out a tofu scramble sometime. Much better than an omelet.
just because local farms raise ethically raised chickens which lay eggs, doesn't mean that thats what they do in factory farms!! its normal to feel guilty because in reality, thats how chickens are mistreated in factory farms so
