October is egg-free month

What about baking without eggs?

There are many great alternatives to baking that don’t use eggs, such as flax seed, apple puree, peanut butter, aquafaba (chickpea water) and many more. These alternatives are often cheaper than eggs and taste great too. Have you tried scrambled tofu? There are many great plant-based options to try instead of eggs. Try one today

What’s wrong with eating eggs?

Like most farmed animals, hens have been manipulated by humans so their natural life cycle is now greatly distorted. A wild hen would produce an egg every month, now an egg-laying hen produces an egg every day. This comes with a huge toll on the hen’s body. No amount of extra food can truly make up for this and hens have much shorter lives because of it.

But hens are cage-free now

Hens in Aotearoa are no longer cramped into tiny “battery” cages, thanks to welfare laws that have made this illegal. NZ hens are now cramped into a larger “colony” cage, where they experience overcrowding instead. Up to 80 hens can be in one colony cage, where they do not have room to spread their wings and still have a wire cage floor. To prevent harm from this, many hens are painfully debeaked as chicks. Barn hens do not have access to outdoor space and spend their lives under artificial lights. Free range hens in theory have access to outside space, it depends on the facility. All live shortened lives. For more information on conditions for hens see here.

Backyard hens are ok though?

Many hens living in someone’s backyard have a happier life than the others, with good access to natural living space and are able to exhibit their normal behaviours. Does that mean it is OK to eat their eggs? Vegans would say no and those who keep hens often feed the eggs back to the hens, so they can benefit from the nutrients. There is nothing an egg can provide us that we cannot obtain by eating plants.

What about the male chicks?

No matter where you get your eggs from, the males are a problem. As with many other farmed animals, it is only the females who are “useful” and the males are unwanted and considered a “waste product”. Roosters are often abandoned by roadsides in NZ, left to fend for themselves, sometimes eaten by dogs. In the egg industry, sexing day old chicks is a highly prized skill and well paid. The unwanted males are thrown into bins and either gassed or macerated.