No Such Thing as Humane Cage-Free Eggs (Still)
Published January 16, 2009 @ 08:32AM PT
Today TreeHugger has up a post praising cage-free eggs and the fact that many of them now carry the "American Humane Certified(TM) label, showing that they're from producers that practice humane treatment of their animals." (This post comes as a result of a press release from the certifying organization.)
Sigh. Here we go again. (TreeHugger, sometimes I do love you, but sometimes I do not; this week, apparently, it's a mix--sorry.)
Let's revisit a post from a couple weeks ago about how "humane" such humane standards really are: "Proving Humane Certifications Meaningless." I wrote that post after this same certification group bestowed its prized label on a veal operation--and an enormous, crate-using veal operation at that. I suggest reading or scanning that post and then coming back here.
And now let's talk specifically about the eggs. First, we have to remember again what "cage-free" in general actually means. It does not mean birds running around outside or dust-bathing or playing or living a natural life. In most cases, it means birds crammed into dark sheds their whole lives, in conditions not much better than battery cage operations.
And what are the truths about both cage-free and free-range? Painful, mutilating, long-impacting debeaking? Still done. Mass, cruel killing of all male chicks--250 million per year in the United States alone--at the hatcheries where egg-laying hens come from? Still done. Violent, frightening, painful slaughter when the hens stop laying enough eggs to be profitable? Still done.
Someone please tell me what's "certified humane" about any of that.
It should also be noted that some of the companies whose cage-free eggs are listed as "humane" by this certification program are the same companies that have been caught committing the worst abuses against hens in their caged operations. And we're seriously to believe that the birds get dramatically better treatment in such companies' other facilities, just because they're crammed into sheds rather than cages?
In my lacto-ovo vegetarian days, I bought and ate free-range and cage-free eggs. I ate a lot of them. I honestly believed that my purchases and my diet were not causing any harm, and I felt good about my choices, so I don't judge anyone for holding that same belief and making that same choice before he or she knows the realities; you can't be blamed when you simply don't know. But once we do know, we have to recognize that if our concern is more for the animals than just for what makes us feel better, the compassionate, humane choice is to stop buying and consuming eggs, not just to pay more for a product that still involves such obvious and serious cruelties.
See the following related posts for more information and perspectives and--in case you don't follow these links and see this article featured in one of the posts--also be sure to read the essay "A Rare Glimpse Inside A 'Free-Range' Egg Facility" and its two firsthand accounts of visits to two different cage-free/free-range farms, one of them certified organic:
- Happy Cage-Free Eggs: Just What I Was Afraid Of
- Untruths and Omissions on Oprah
- Peaceful Prairie Restoration of the "Free-Range" Hens
- What the Oprah Show Didn't Tell You About Cage-Free and Free-Range
----
Photo of rescued "free-range" hen courtesy of Peaceful Prairie Sanctuary post "Coming Home"
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Comments (36)
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Author
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Stephanie is an independent animal rights advocate, a vegan, a tree-hugging environmentalist, and a freelance editor and writer. She lives in St. Louis with an aging corgi-lab and an adolescent rescued pit bull.
Good post. I often wonder if the life of a cage-free egg hen is worse than that used for meat, since they are put out of their misery after a longer period of torture.
It's very sad.
I haven't eated eggs in a long time but I am still haunted by footage I saw of male chicks being dumped into a trash can alive, and a person simply closing the bag while they all moved around in there. That slow death must be horrifying.
Posted by Philosophia and Animal Liberation on 01/16/2009 @ 08:38AM PT
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The very label "humane" is question begging. The premise is assumed to be true without evidence or support other than the statement itself. Where is the logic defending the premise "humane sources"?
Posted by Alex Melonas on 01/16/2009 @ 08:58AM PT
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Thank you for this post. I have been leaning into veganism from vegetarianism for a long time. I rarely eat eggs but this has pushed me over the edge. I will no longer support terrorism for animals.
Posted by Candace McFarland on 01/16/2009 @ 09:15AM PT
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You're now my favorite person of the day, Candace. :)
Posted by Stephanie Ernst on 01/16/2009 @ 09:22AM PT
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I am so pleased to see that there are others who care about the Creator and His Creation. Now I know I won't be lonely when he Kingdom comes!
Posted by David Crawford on 01/16/2009 @ 09:49AM PT
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If you look you may be able to find people who raise chickens that live in open fields - google 'Marin Sun Farms' these chickens are really free range and their diet is only supplemented with grain which is what is natural - they eat lots of bugs.Anyway when I can't have my own chickens - I eat from their farms.
Posted by Rebekah Collins on 01/16/2009 @ 10:24AM PT
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There is another alternative: pastured eggs. These are from chickens who truly live outdoors, roaming freely in open pasture (often eating a varied diet of seeds, grasses, insects, etc.) and fertilizing the soil in the process. In the process followed by an increasing number of farmers, the chickens are moved from area to area to maximize the benefits to the soil and the chickens. The resulting eggs turn out to be better nutritionally as well.
Posted by Jonathan Wieder on 01/16/2009 @ 10:29AM PT
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Rebekah, I'm afraid you missed some of the big points here--including (1) that the hatcheries that supply even free-range egg farms still kill all the male chicks and (2) that the hens are still killed when their egg production declines. And with all due respect--because I do know that you meant well--the animal rights blog is not the right place to advertise for companies that slaughter animals.
Posted by Stephanie Ernst on 01/16/2009 @ 10:31AM PT
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Jonathan, we were posting at the same time. Please see my response to Rebekah.
Posted by Stephanie Ernst on 01/16/2009 @ 10:32AM PT
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Change takes two kind of people. We need passionate visionaries like Stephanie and many commenters here, who are willing to look at the brutal realities of the situation and spread the word. But change also takes thousands and millions of regular folks making (even somewhat) better choices everyday. The key word here is "better," since we can't realistically expect to avoid every atrocity today.
The market on free range eggs shows there are lots of regular folks out there with good enough hearts to pay more for what they believe is less cruelty.
What can be done to regulate certification so that it more accurately reflects a decrease in cruelty?
The answer is going to be hard for visionaries to come up with- because I suspect there is no cruelty-free answer in the egg business. But is there a better answer that, when multiplied by thousands and millions of consumers, could make an appreciable difference?
Posted by Heather Pagano on 01/16/2009 @ 11:19AM PT
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Rebekah and Johnathan, where do the male chicks go on these farms? What happens to the female chickens when they no longer lay eggs?
Posted by Philosophia and Animal Liberation on 01/16/2009 @ 11:39AM PT
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Just to clarify - I certainly wasn't trying to advertise just let people know that it is possible to eat eggs from chickens who have as close to a natural life as possible and give a good example of that so people can see it in action. I have raised my own chickens - for eggs in the past precisely because of what you found on your visits to 'free range' chicken facilities.
If people who are not vegans are alienated from this important dialog somehow it just does not seem as productive as it could be.
Posted by Rebekah Collins on 01/16/2009 @ 12:04PM PT
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Rebekah, again, what happens to the male baby chicks and the female chickens when they can no longer lay eggs?
Posted by Philosophia and Animal Liberation on 01/16/2009 @ 12:12PM PT
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Rebekah,
Your point is correct, however, we cannot let false statements and poor assumptions -- as defines the "humane movement" -- pass without correction. Ignorance isn't a value.
Posted by Alex Melonas on 01/16/2009 @ 12:12PM PT
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"But once we do know, we have to recognize that if our concern is more for the animals than just for what makes us feel better, the compassionate, humane choice is to stop buying and consuming eggs,"
And this is the statement that, today, made me think about going from 98% vegan to 100%. I haven't purchased/consumed whole eggs in months, but I have, on occasion, allowed myself to eat fried rice cooked in eggs, and things like that. Today that ends.
You really never know who you will touch, or how.
Which is why I think it's important for the writers of these types of blogs to continue to allow dissenters into the conversations. I think Stephanie does a great job of this. Thank you, Stephanie, for not being a big fat Nazi like you COULD choose to be. ;)
And thank you, Rebekah, for joining the conversation and reading the post!
Posted by Lisa R on 01/16/2009 @ 03:50PM PT
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Not all hens are treated in this manner. Some friends of mine have about 20 hens, in a sunny and airy hen house. It's built largely out of chicken wire, around the sides and tops, round in shape and has, on a rough guess, about 3 ft per bird. They have a laying house with fresh straw to lay in and their food and water are changed daily. In case you're wondering, the chicken wire on the top is to stop birds of prey from gettin in. The coop is about 14 ft high, so there's plenty of room up and around. These birds are on a high quality diet, too. They get leftovers (their owner are vegatarians) so there's lots of variety beside chicken feed.
And yes, the left over eggs are sold to the neighbours as organic.
When they are done laying, they are killed quickly - no hanging by the feet while still alive for these birds. They live a good life for about 5 years, on the average.
As for male chickens, they are raised for food. Males and females are checked for their sex right after hatching, they are sent by mail (I'm not kidding) to whoever orders them. As roosters are not allowed in some cities (noise pollution laws) you rairly see them around here. (In Tucson AZ)
Posted by Sally Chandler on 01/16/2009 @ 04:05PM PT
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Sally makes a good point, and more and more you'll find that neighbors raise chickens. We have a small backyard flock that gives us about 3 dozen egg's per week (enough for us and a few neighbors), they have free rein of the backyard to eat all the bugs and grass they can handle, as well as access to our compost pile. They are happy birds with a happy life, and they double as a political/social statement by ensuring a few more families are off the market for badly treated eggs.
Considering the point that Heather made, that change needs all kinds of people making the difference that best suits them, it makes sense for more of us to raise birds and offer them to our neighbors.
Posted by Amary Taylor on 01/16/2009 @ 04:50PM PT
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The title says it all: "No such thing as humane cage-free eggs". Human women also produce eggs.........does that sound yummy to anyone? Human women produce milk..........cheese anyone? It is absurd and disgusting that people cannot see the obvious gross factor involved with eating an egg (potential baby) or breast milk from an animal. Animals are beautiful, gentle and are extremely loyal. Crossing the line of friendship with an animal into the area of looking to them to feed us is bizarre.
We can wonder if someone, way back in time, may have been in dire straits, hungry and possibly dying and got the idea to share some milk with a baby cow from its mother's teat. But how we got to this point, where everyone, for generations, have come to expect their kitchen to be stocked with the body fluids and eggs of animals as well as the carcass of a killed animal is beyond comprehesion. Once a person looks at this issue from the point of view that animals have the same body systems as we do, it is impossible to want to put anything from an animal into our bodies.
It just cannot happen.
The reason that people continue to eat animals and their eggs and body fluids, is because people are self-centered, ignorant and insecure. This mixture of human qualities is deadly for animals and deadly for the environment and ultimately deadly for the human race.
Animal protection groups and Environmental protection groups (the REAL environmental groups that discourage eating animals for the sake of the environment!) have their hands full trying to convey this message to people who are constantly exposed to a society that puts its values in patriotic war mongering, luxury and goods accumulation, and "me first" thinking. Yet despite all these problems, the times seem good for at least communicating these acts of horror to people.
A vegan lifestyle will be the future of the world. Without it, we don't stand a chance surviving the global effects that have already begun. This earth is too fragile and does not need us to survive. Human, animal and environmental sensitivity will have to happen.
Thank for listening.
Posted by E C on 01/16/2009 @ 06:46PM PT
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LIsa R. I too have been a little lax on my consumption of egg whites in particular. i have been allowing that as my "I'm not going to be rude at someone's house" item, but that ends today.
"you can't be blamed when you simply don't know."
And this is how every step of my transition from omni to lacto-ovo-veg, to ovo-veg to vegan has happened. Once I learned something new, something else was removed from my diet.
For the general population, I think that's how it has to be. Once you *know* something, it's hard to turn a blind eye. One step at a time...
Posted by Lisa Smolen on 01/16/2009 @ 07:14PM PT
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To Pat Fish - who sent a 'compliment' to me insisting I answer " what happens to the male chicks and the hens beyond 'their prime' ?"
Well honestly I don't know what Marin sun farms does but what I do is this - I get chicks in what is called a 'straight run' - meaning I get both sex. I raise them in a very good environment and when they all hit puberty I give as many roosters away that I can to people with other home flocks that need them and the ones I can't find homes for( as well as hens I can't keep ) go to friends who grew up on small family farms and know how to butcher chickens properly. You can't keep a 'flock of roosters' they will literally kill each other - you can have 1 rooster to about 8-12 hens no more. People also list their roosters online in hopes of finding another back yard flock that needs one.
One of our bantam hens raised 3 sets of baby chicks and I would like to raise more chicks like that - rather than in an incubator. We also have given friends eggs to hatch and raise as well.
If you want to know what sun farms does - I'm sure you can email them and find out.
A friend once suggested turning the roosters loose - but I really don't think death by raccoon is swift.
Posted by Rebekah Collins on 01/16/2009 @ 08:22PM PT
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My chickens, when I have them, have the run of my yard, and are never killed and their eggs are not fertile, so feel no guilt in eating them. I am rethinking where I obtain them though, thanks to the comments re: killing of male chicks.
Posted by Charlie Reed on 01/17/2009 @ 05:09AM PT
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Do not eat eggs. Do not eat animals. They are friends of human beings!
Posted by Harriet HE on 01/17/2009 @ 07:36AM PT
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From what I can tell, the posts of the people on here who do sonume animal products like eggs show me even more reason that it is impossible for these things to be humane.
Just because the animals are treated well in front of your face, it doesn't mean that when you sell them to another person, that they don't kill them or treat them badly. You never know.
On top of that, it's the mere domestication of animals that is the problem. These animals are bred to be dependent upon humans so humans can "use" the fruits of their dependence. That is the biggest problem with animal farming. Let them be free. Stop domesticating animals.
Posted by Philosophia and Animal Liberation on 01/17/2009 @ 07:56AM PT
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That's great that you're now thinking about the issue, Charlie. May I ask what you mean by "when I have them"? No judgment here--I'm just curious as to what you mean. And are you also saying that any chickens you've kept for eggs have lived out their full life spans with you, dying naturally? (Again--just honestly wondering and seeking clarification.)
Posted by Stephanie Ernst on 01/17/2009 @ 08:14AM PT
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At night the birds go into the coop and I shut the door for their protection, but my last coop got old and predators got in. Also, my current dog was one of the "predators" according to my neighbors. Until Gabby departs these mortal bonds I will go without. I may not bother then, at this point I am not sure.
Posted by Charlie Reed on 01/17/2009 @ 10:52AM PT
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Stephanie, I forgot the second part of Your question. Yes except when eaten by a predator they were not killed. These birds were pets, I kept no roosters mostly because they are noisy, and my neighbors are only 100' away.
Posted by Charlie Reed on 01/17/2009 @ 05:08PM PT
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Sally Chandler wrote:
>These birds are on a high quality diet, too. They get leftovers
>(their owner are vegatarians) so there's lots of variety
>beside chicken feed.
...
>When they are done laying, they are killed quickly -
Wow, what great "vegetarian owners".
>They live a good life for about 5 years, on the average.
Pretty short compared to what they can live if properly cared for.
Posted by Pat Fish on 01/18/2009 @ 05:31AM PT
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How can anyone think that killing hens that have provided you with food (and companionship) freely for years is humane? That's like shooting a contractor after he's finished the job. What if I had a dog for 5 years and then killed him when I no longer "needed" him? All of you eating eggs would be all over that.
And how do you kill a hen "quickly" so that it does not cause suffering? Slit it's throat? Pay for it to be killed with euth-solution?
Do you think the other hens notice the sudden disappearance of their comrade? They aren't stupid.
Once again, "humane" owners show that there is no such thing as "humane" eggs. Less cruel perhaps, but not humane.
Posted by Philosophia and Animal Liberation on 01/18/2009 @ 09:21AM PT
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Pardon my use of the word "it" when referring to chickens above.
Posted by Philosophia and Animal Liberation on 01/18/2009 @ 09:22AM PT
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Sorry I didn't see this post when it was fresh... nonetheless, I have a contribution. I don't think it's impossible for "humane eggs" to exist, however I think it is an extremely rare circumstance. I have rescued as small flock of factory farmed egg hens and 2 "class project" hens... As you can see, these were not "bought" chickens. They are adored pets... I would never, ever think of doing the first bit of harm to them. They get the best care I can give and the most freedom that is safe. The eggs they lay, I give (never sell) to neighbors & acquaintances (who won't even go vegetarian, let alone vegan). It saves these people from buying their cruel factory eggs from the store. I cannot think of any instance where eggs would be more "humane"... but then again - each of these girls would not exist to begin with if not for "inhumane" practices. But, their eggs are not now being made under "cruel" conditions. It is a rare situation as I said, but not entirely impossible...
But if someone is "buying" chickens for this purpose... the majority of time the chicks come from breeding/incupating houses - where the males are usually always disposed of. No matter how "nice" the "farm" appears... there's probably some evil doings behind the "animal agriculture" scene.
Anyway, that's my 2cents... Nice post - thanks for inviting comment :)
Go Vegan.
Posted by Bea Elliott on 02/05/2009 @ 09:12PM PT
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I've struggled with this for a while. I have four chickens. They were given to me by a friend who also has a very small flock. They are our pets and my Doberman loves them. They crawl into his dog house and sleep with him, very cute. They have total freedom to go wherever they want. They are free. We do not clip their wings or keep them fenced in. They do have a coop because they like to "go home" at night. We will not butcher them. However, I have been torn with what to do with the eggs. I most often feed them to the dog as the hens will not always sit on them to hatch them and they would eventually rot. I did have just one hen/rooster and the hen finally sat on and hatched two eggs which is why I now have 4. My family likes eggs and so do I, but it has been difficult for me to decide if consuming them is the right thing for me or not.
Posted by Vicki Esch on 06/18/2009 @ 06:57AM PT
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Vicki, thank you for sharing your story. It sounds like your feathered friends are much-loved and well cared for. :) (And the mental image of the chickens and the dog together is just adorable.) I don't feel, at all, that by simply having and caring for these animals, you're doing anything wrong; you obviously didn't go out and purchase them in order to use them as egg machines, and you clearly care for them deeply. I personally wouldn't eat the eggs, but I understand (and respect) that this is a decision you have to make for yourself.
Posted by Stephanie Ernst on 06/18/2009 @ 08:20AM PT
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According to a friend of mine who runs a chicken sanctuary, chickens, if left to fend for themselves, will eat any unfertilized eggs themselves. They'll gobble it right up. But maybe in your circumstances some of them do rot, I don't know. Giving them away, or feeding them to your dog, sounds fine to me.
Posted by Wendy Scher on 08/06/2009 @ 01:03PM PT
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Vicki - I admire you for being so conscientious in your attempt to make a thoughtful decision about consuming these eggs or not. I'm with Stephanie that your choice should be respected as there is "no harm" to any one. Only perhaps to those who consume eggs under these circumstances - They really aren't all that good health-wise... But those are consequences you must weigh on your own.
Colleen Patrick-Goudreau spoke eloquently on this subject on this Food for Thought podcast -
Drawing the Line: How Vegan is Vegan?
What if I had my own hens and ate her eggs?
http://feeds.feedburner.com/VegetarianFoodForThought
I hope this helps put your mind at ease on whatever you decide. :)
Posted by Bea Elliott on 06/18/2009 @ 11:07AM PT
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I'm sorry... I forgot to mention/ask - You do know Vicki that the hens would greatly benefit from eating some of their own eggs? I replenishes a lot of what their bodies loose and they love them! :)
Posted by Bea Elliott on 06/18/2009 @ 11:16AM PT
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Stephanie and Bea,
Thank you for your comments. I will check out the Food for Thought Podcast you've suggested. Also, thank you for the suggestion to feed the eggs back to the hens.
Posted by Vicki Esch on 06/22/2009 @ 09:11AM PT
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