But i do think you're right about purchasing chickens, i hadn't actually considered where she got them from. I should ask her..
I think if they were rescue hens, I can't really see a problem with eating/giving away their eggs (I would give them away, lessen the demand for conventional eggs) . It would be pointlessly wasteful not to. Domesticated fowl have been created largely to just pump out eggs (or have huge bosoms!) and they will continue to do it long after they are not at "peak production". Because they have been engineered to cater to human need, they require human intervention to be healthy. You can't really discuss them in terms of "natural instincts" because their instincts have been messed up, they are in egg-overdrive. I have kept chickens in the past and they will sit on their eggs to the point where it could impact upon their health e.g. not leaving their nest to drink in a heatwave, so I am ok with removing their eggs.
i would say that anybody eating hens eggs isn't vegan...surely thats causing distress to the hens who communicate with their chicks even while they're in the egg? it's comparable to taking calves away from their mothers in the dairy/veal industry.
again, this isn't a personal attack on you or your friend but i think it is against what very many vegans stand for
surely thats causing distress to the hens who communicate with their chicks even while they're in the egg? it's comparable to taking calves away from their mothers in the dairy/veal industry.
In the Egg industry they only use Hens and have no presence of a Rooster in the laying barn or shed, otherwise the hens would go "Clucky". This is where the hen and rooster will mate and the hen will begin to build a nest and lay a batch of eggs and will nest on them until they hatch, this is why they Dont have roosters with the hens. All the eggs laid are unfertilized. In the dairy Industry the cow has to give birth to a live young in order to produce milk whereas a hen's egg is unfertilized and has no presence of a chick. Hens lay there eggs and unless they are clucky will walk away from the eggs or they will eat them, until the hen has mated the eggs mean nothing to them My hens always leave the eggs and dont care when i take them, i boil them up and feed the eggs back to the hens for nutrients.
Hens lay there eggs and unless they are clucky will walk away from the eggs or they will eat them, until the hen has mated the eggs mean nothing to them 
