Clearly, eggs are NOT vegan - here are the reasons why...
The ancestor of the modern laying hen would lay at most a dozen eggs (called a clutch), once per year. Over the course of many years of selective breeding, the domesticated laying hen has been turned into a creature who will lay up to 300 eggs a year during her peak laying period. This high number has only been achieved through cruel genetic and behavioral manipulations.
After a clutch is laid, the natural hen will stop laying eggs in anticipation of the hatchings. This behavior holds true whether the eggs are fertilized or not. Egg farmers take advantage of this fact by removing any eggs that the hens lay. This forces the hens to continue to try to form their clutch of eggs. Sadly, they will be driven to madness as they attempt to form their clutch because their eggs are constantly stolen. Needless to say, this puts a tremendous psychological and physical strain on these birds. An animal that might otherwise live the better part of a decade is all but used up within a couple of years.
Battery farms are vectors for disease. Laying hens are overcrowded to the point of stress.
The laying hen is typically confined in a cage half a metre square (500mm x 500mm) which it shares with three or four other birds. (Standards vary - the allotted space for caged hens may be even less in some countries.) It stays put for its entire productive life of 1, or 2 years. There is barely enough room for the birds to turn around. Laying hens stand on wire mesh all day and night so their feet are often calloused and sore.
They have no stimulation other than the other birds in their cage - so hen-pecking and aggression are common. De-beaking and toe trimming are therefore routinely practised. These procedures can cause pain and stress and lead to infections. The de-beaking of chicks will be banned in the UK from 2011 and is already banned in Finland, Sweden and Norway. But it is still common in most battery farms and hatcheries. Even so, birds rescued from factory farms are often almost denuded of feathers. Sometimes birds are deliberately stressed to provoke laying - their feathers drop as a consequence.
To stop the spread of disease from overcrowding and insanitary conditions, antibiotics are routinely supplied with feed.
Male chicks are surplus to requirements; they are quite literally thrown into a grinding machine for immediate disposal.
- See more at: http://www.greenfootsteps.com/battery-farming.html#sthash.Z4bHPvKj.dpuf
The laying hen is typically confined in a cage half a metre square (500mm x 500mm) which it shares with three or four other birds. (Standards vary - the allotted space for caged hens may be even less in some countries.) It stays put for its entire productive life of 1, or 2 years. There is barely enough room for the birds to turn around. Laying hens stand on wire mesh all day and night so their feet are often calloused and sore.
They have no stimulation other than the other birds in their cage - so hen-pecking and aggression are common. De-beaking and toe trimming are therefore routinely practised. These procedures can cause pain and stress and lead to infections. The de-beaking of chicks will be banned in the UK from 2011 and is already banned in Finland, Sweden and Norway. But it is still common in most battery farms and hatcheries. Even so, birds rescued from factory farms are often almost denuded of feathers. Sometimes birds are deliberately stressed to provoke laying - their feathers drop as a consequence.
To stop the spread of disease from overcrowding and insanitary conditions, antibiotics are routinely supplied with feed.
Male chicks are surplus to requirements; they are quite literally thrown into a grinding machine for immediate disposal.
- See more at: http://www.greenfootsteps.com/battery-farming.html#sthash.Z4bHPvKj.dpuf
Intensive industrial factory farms are vectors for disease. Laying hens are overcrowded to the point of stress. The laying hen is typically confined in a cage half a metre square. It stays here for its entire productive life of one or two years. There is barely enough room for the birds to turn around. Laying hens stand on wire mesh all day and night so their feet are often calloused and sore.
They have no stimulation other than the other birds in their cage - so hen-pecking and aggression are common. De-beaking and toe trimming are therefore routinely practised. These procedures can cause pain and stress and lead to infections. The de-beaking of chicks is banned in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. But it is still common in most battery farms and hatcheries.
The calcium needed to form just one egg can bind up ten percent of the calcium from a hen's bones. Extended egg-laying without proper mineral replenishment will lead to soft or fractured bones. When left alone, hens will actually eat their unfertilized eggs. This replenishes them with minerals lost during the egg formation process.
To stop the spread of disease from overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, antibiotics are routinely supplied with feed.
Examples in this disturbing video of how cruel humans are to hens in a slaughterhouse
In a nutshell - why all egg use is inhumane.
They have no stimulation other than the other birds in their cage - so hen-pecking and aggression are common. De-beaking and toe trimming are therefore routinely practised. These procedures can cause pain and stress and lead to infections. The de-beaking of chicks is banned in Finland, Sweden, and Norway. But it is still common in most battery farms and hatcheries.
The calcium needed to form just one egg can bind up ten percent of the calcium from a hen's bones. Extended egg-laying without proper mineral replenishment will lead to soft or fractured bones. When left alone, hens will actually eat their unfertilized eggs. This replenishes them with minerals lost during the egg formation process.
Examples in this disturbing video of how cruel humans are to hens in a slaughterhouse
In a nutshell - why all egg use is inhumane.
Battery farms are vectors for disease. Laying hens are overcrowded to the point of stress.
The laying hen is typically confined in a cage half a metre square (500mm x 500mm) which it shares with three or four other birds. (Standards vary - the allotted space for caged hens may be even less in some countries.) It stays put for its entire productive life of 1, or 2 years. There is barely enough room for the birds to turn around. Laying hens stand on wire mesh all day and night so their feet are often calloused and sore.
They have no stimulation other than the other birds in their cage - so hen-pecking and aggression are common. De-beaking and toe trimming are therefore routinely practised. These procedures can cause pain and stress and lead to infections. The de-beaking of chicks will be banned in the UK from 2011 and is already banned in Finland, Sweden and Norway. But it is still common in most battery farms and hatcheries. Even so, birds rescued from factory farms are often almost denuded of feathers. Sometimes birds are deliberately stressed to provoke laying - their feathers drop as a consequence.
To stop the spread of disease from overcrowding and insanitary conditions, antibiotics are routinely supplied with feed.
Male chicks are surplus to requirements; they are quite literally thrown into a grinding machine for immediate disposal.
- See more at: http://www.greenfootsteps.com/battery-farming.html#sthash.Z4bHPvKj.dpuf
The laying hen is typically confined in a cage half a metre square (500mm x 500mm) which it shares with three or four other birds. (Standards vary - the allotted space for caged hens may be even less in some countries.) It stays put for its entire productive life of 1, or 2 years. There is barely enough room for the birds to turn around. Laying hens stand on wire mesh all day and night so their feet are often calloused and sore.
They have no stimulation other than the other birds in their cage - so hen-pecking and aggression are common. De-beaking and toe trimming are therefore routinely practised. These procedures can cause pain and stress and lead to infections. The de-beaking of chicks will be banned in the UK from 2011 and is already banned in Finland, Sweden and Norway. But it is still common in most battery farms and hatcheries. Even so, birds rescued from factory farms are often almost denuded of feathers. Sometimes birds are deliberately stressed to provoke laying - their feathers drop as a consequence.
To stop the spread of disease from overcrowding and insanitary conditions, antibiotics are routinely supplied with feed.
Male chicks are surplus to requirements; they are quite literally thrown into a grinding machine for immediate disposal.
- See more at: http://www.greenfootsteps.com/battery-farming.html#sthash.Z4bHPvKj.dpuf
Backyard hens, given proper nesting materials, will also attempt to form a clutch. Hens do not want to lay virtually everyday. If you chose to steal the eggs rather then leave them be, you are perpetuating the same cruel fate that she endured on the farm.
Backyard Chickens: Expanding Our Understanding of ‘Harm’
The Unavoidably Violent History of Backyard Eggs
If you rescue a hen then you can help her to get out of the industrialised or backyard perpetual laying "process" and help her to stop laying by putting painted eggs on their "nests". Use organic paint. Rescued birds may need to be shown - because they never had an adult teach them - that they can eat their eggs by breaking them in to a bowl, usually in no time at all the chickens will get excited about eating their eggs. Unfortunately, some battery hens that are rescued will lay an egg and walk away without sitting on it as would have happened in nature. Rescue hens can now be treated to stop them from going through the unnatural and painful process of frequently laying eggs. Backyard Chickens: Expanding Our Understanding of ‘Harm’
The Unavoidably Violent History of Backyard Eggs
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When humans eat eggs it reinforces the idea that animals and their products are for humans to use. What right have humans to decide what other creatures should be doing?
Of course one of, if not the, worst thing about the egg industry is that each year six billion (6,000,000,000,000) live male chicks are macerated (short video showing this horror). In 2015 the estimated number of male chicks killed equalled 250,000,000 a day. Being male means they will not go on and produce eggs and make money for their "owners". Male chicks are just thrown, still alive, into a grinder, some places in the UK use gas chambers, or the chicks simply put into plastic bin bags and left to suffocate or starve to death. I don't see any of those methods as being very kind, or even necessary, do you?
Of course one of, if not the, worst thing about the egg industry is that each year six billion (6,000,000,000,000) live male chicks are macerated (short video showing this horror). In 2015 the estimated number of male chicks killed equalled 250,000,000 a day. Being male means they will not go on and produce eggs and make money for their "owners". Male chicks are just thrown, still alive, into a grinder, some places in the UK use gas chambers, or the chicks simply put into plastic bin bags and left to suffocate or starve to death. I don't see any of those methods as being very kind, or even necessary, do you?
- Who wants to eat a hen's period anyway? (they use the same hole for everything)
- Eggs are unhealthy; they are loaded with artery-clogging cholesterol and saturated fat - 70 per cent of the calories in one egg is from pure fat!
- Read even more on the PETA2 website.
- PETA's top 10 reasons NOT to eat eggs
- Scary Egg Facts - You Will Never Eat Eggs Again After Reading This!
- The cruelty of debeaking chicks...
- Due to their high rate of cholesterol, you can't say eggs are healthy or safe to eat - US Dept of Agriculture - with thanks to the freedom of information act!
- Article about suffering free-range chicken
- Eggs are nutritious and safe... you can't say that!
- Mercy for Animals article about chick killings in France
- Article about genetically modified chickens
- Vegans with Chickens (Facebook Group)
NUTRITION & EGGS
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has several articles about how unhealthy eggs are...
- Egg industry found funding research saying eggs are healthy! and here
- Health concerns with eggs.
- The incredibly inedible egg
Multiple articles (all both as transcipts and videos) from Nutrition Facts about health problems associated with eating eggs:
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There are replacements for use in food preparation . . . 
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