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Ask Umbra on sex ... chicken sex, that is 14

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Q. Dear Umbra,

Vegans don’t eat eggs because it’s an animal product like honey and milk and also because of how animals are treated. However, does eating an egg kill a baby chick that could have had a life? I am a vegetarian and people often argue that the eggs in the grocery store are not fertilized and would never have a life. Is that really true? I know being vegan is the best way of living but does eating eggs really kill something that could have had a life? It would be great to get your opinion.

Harshita S.
Cambridge, Mass.

A. Dearest Harshita,

hen and roosterOne foot on the floor.It is not my opinion but rather a fact that if a hen’s egg has not been fertilized by a rooster, no embryo or chick will form. In general, an egg sold in a grocery store will not have been fertilized. There is a chance that you are shopping at a small store that carries eggs from small-scale producers, and in this case a rooster might be at the henhouse and the eggs might be fertilized. However, even a fertilized egg is unlikely to result in a life. Let us back up for a moment.

Hens, like women, produce eggs whether or not there is a chance of fertilization. Hens have one ovary, which regularly forms yolks inside its follicular sac. When the yolk is ready, the sac breaks open and releases it into the oviduct. If a hen happens to have a fresh set of sperm from a rooster stored in her infundibulum (the opening of the oviduct), the sperm gets a chance to fertilize the yolk. Whether this occurs or not, the albumen and shell are added in layers to form the complete egg as the yolk continues on a journey through the oviduct. When the egg is completely formed and the hen is ready to push it out, taa daa! Some hens will lay an egg per day.

A fertilized chicken embryo will grow and hatch in about 21 days if the right conditions are met, that is, if it is kept at 80 degrees. Either a hen must brood upon the egg until it hatches, or it must be incubated in a heated machine designed for the purpose. Few breeds of chicken will still brood, as this habit is inconvenient to the egg farmer and has been removed from the genes.

To recap, two things must be present for an egg to have a life: roosters and incubators. It is unusual for either of these conditions to be in place on a modern egg farm. Either the farm is such that tens of thousands of hens are in small cages pumping out eggs, with neither rooster nor free space in site. Or the chickens are roaming around, with perhaps a rooster or several roosters ruling the roost, but the farmer is in the egg-selling business and collects every egg to bring to your store. The only way an egg is a potential life is if that farmer sometimes collects and incubates her own eggs, and your egg happens to be fertilized but was not chosen to hatch out. So you see I am really stretching the possibilities here.

Here’s the thing: if you do choose to eat eggs, despite the captivity of the birds, you should be buying eggs from small egg operations. These operations should have freely ranging chickens, and may have roosters. Hence, if you are going to eat eggs, it is better to buy and eat the ones that extremely hypothetically might have resulted in a live chick. Large-scale chicken egg farming is economically, ethically, and environmentally repugnant.

Mildly,
Umbra

Yours is to wonder why, hers is to answer (or try). Send your green-living questions to Umbra.

Umbra Fisk is Grist Research Associate II, Hardcover and Periodicals Unit, floors 2B-4B.

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  1. bravedeer Posted 3:38 am
    14 Sep 2009

    One thing the article failed to clear up is whether male chicks are killed by every hatchery. If you saw the recent video of male chicks being sent to the grinder, you have to wonder, is every egg out there soaked with blood ? I wish I knew the answer but I assume that must be the case as even small producers "mail order" their chicks, and since only females are shipped, where are the males?

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    1. dexter Posted 5:51 am
      14 Sep 2009

      It is possible to buy male chicks from a hatchery. 

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  2. askantik's avatar

    askantik Posted 7:29 am
    14 Sep 2009

    Yes, male chicks are usually killed by hatcheries.  There's no need for them.  It's very similar to how male calves birthed by dairy cows are usually sold as veal.  So in essence, there's also veal in every glass of milk.It really surprises me how many people ask this same question, so don't feel bad.  Umbra wrote, "Hens, like women, produce eggs whether or not there is a chance of fertilization."  Additionally, women are not letting babies die everytime they ovulate.

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  3. eleanorbabyy Posted 8:48 am
    14 Sep 2009

    It seems almost laughably ridiculous that this person is so worried about unfertilized chicken eggs, but not worried about the overall plight of actual, living chickens in the meat industry, whether they be on "free-range" farms or not. Often that label only means that hundreds of thousands of birds are given one small outdoor space, which most of them can't even fit into. It's a marketing device. Eating eggs contributes to cruelty, period. Does this reader know that male chicks are thrown live into grinders or suffocated in plastic bags because they're useless to the egg industry?I don't want to mock the question-asker, because it's great that she has any concern at all in a world where most don't. But I really think they need to do more research if they think that unfertilized chicken embryos are the problem.

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    1. Lanben Posted 9:21 am
      14 Sep 2009

      eleanorbabyy,     I think it's "almost laughably ridiculous" that you seem to be so inflexible about your ideas on chicken farming.  Notice that Umbra did not suggest Free Range eggs per se.  She suggested buying from small operations, many of which do have truly free ranging chickens.  This kind of ethical, small scale operations, perhaps even using heritage chickens that are adapted to being outside, do really exist.  I've been to them, worked on them, and can assure you that eating eggs from them should cause you no bad karma, if you know what I mean.  I know, eleanorbabyy, that you are concerned that most people won't care about these fine distinctions and will just eat the "Free Range" eggs and lose no sleep.  But that doesn't mean that you can paint all kinds of egg raising with the same brush.cheers

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      1. MeowAllieCat Posted 9:57 am
        14 Sep 2009

        Do these small operations by their egg-laying hens from mail order operations? Generally, the answer is yes. These giant egg-laying hen "producers" raise hens in deplorable conditions to produce as many live chicks, using as little space and money, as possible. Once hatched, the chickens are sexed. The females are sent down a conveyor belt. The males are discarded through any number of cheap routes (ground up alive, thrown into dumpsters, discarded into a plastic bag, etc.). Even your backyard chicken farmer is supporting this horrendous mess of a system, and so are you when you buy eggs.To me, it comes down to this: No sentient being should be the profit and property of another sentient being. This means I've found ways to replace eggs in my diet, and I do not buy slave-produced chocolate or coffee. As a benefit, the net environmental impact of my lifestyle is significantly lower than most. Flax seeds and tofu are far easier on the planet than chicken feces and slaughterhouse emissions.

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      2. Lanben Posted 10:29 am
        14 Sep 2009

        Once again,  it comes down in your mind to the monolithic, Big Evil hen-raising operations.  Can I ask you candidly when the last time you visited an actual operation, or have you only seen what PETA videos have shown you?  I agree with all of you wholeheartedly that the system is generally a mess, I just *oh god it's too good to pass up* don't think we should throw out the baby with the bathwater.  ;-)  Sentient beings, yes.  But "persons" with aspirations beyond creating a pecking order, mating, and scrounging for grubs and feed, no.  Support local, ethical production, get to know your producers and their methods, and help build a sustainable food economy!

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  4. Fenrir Posted 9:43 am
    14 Sep 2009

    Next "Ask Umbra" section should be about abortion and how a "fertilized woman's egg" is or is not a potential human being given certain conditions. Although I doubt she'd get into all that potential flaming by readers, it should really be noted, given the actual impact and/or benefit of abortion as an environmental decision and individual empowerment. Hope this doesn't offend anyone, but it would be really interesting to point the environmental benefits/impacts of abortion, since Umbra has already commented on child bearing or adoption.

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  5. jensing528 Posted 10:45 am
    14 Sep 2009

    I also wanted to add, if anyone cares, the correct incubation temp is 99.5'f. Also that once an egg has been refrigerated it is no longer viable. They can be held between 55-70' f for up to a week before incubation. The hatcheries also sell some of the extra cockerels for reptile food. I have seen them on websites that sell meal worms and other insects to people who raise reptiles.I was raised on a farm and we had a whole range of animals, from chickens to cows. We always took care of our animals and let them free range when possible. We had to lock up the poultry at night because of predatos. They always got the best food and shelter. I do raise chickens,ducks and turkeys now on a small scale for family use and to sell the extra eggs. I buy them straight run, males and females and I try to get them from the smaller preservation hatcheries that care about the animals not just the bottom line. I buy heritage breeds that are duel purpose. The extra roosters or any of the males I have get sold to someone else who wants one for their hens or get butchered for my family. I do this the most humane way possible. I do keep a few for fertile eggs, they can help protect the hens from some predators they are also beautiful.I know there are going to be some people out there upset because I do this, but I don't always agree with what others do or say either. I do what I think is right for myself and my family as does anyone out there.

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  6. ppagesut Posted 8:58 am
    17 Sep 2009

    There is a bottom line, its called the food chain.  If roles were reversed chickens would have no problem eating us, so not eating an animal because it is living creature is not a valid reason.  There are aware individuals out in the world that raise there own animals for consumption, and do so in an ethical and humane way.  If people have a problem it is not eating animals that is evil it is the agra-business, supermarkets, and the general consumer way of life that people have gotten used to that is evil.  If folks started to raise their own animals and became self reliant the current animal rights issue would not be, and people could focus on other issues relating to animals.

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  7. ppagesut Posted 8:58 am
    17 Sep 2009

    There is a bottom line, its called the food chain.  If roles were reversed chickens would have no problem eating us, so not eating an animal because it is living creature is not a valid reason.  There are aware individuals out in the world that raise there own animals for consumption, and do so in an ethical and humane way.  If people have a problem it is not eating animals that is evil it is the agra-business, supermarkets, and the general consumer way of life that people have gotten used to that is evil.  If folks started to raise their own animals and became self reliant the current animal rights issue would not be, and people could focus on other issues relating to animals.

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  8. PoppyBoy Posted 11:19 am
    18 Sep 2009

    Such mammalistic bias. I agree with ppagesut, but go further. Who is to say that vegetables, grains, and other vegan-only life-forms are not sentient. Eating life is a fact of life. By removing heirarchys from apparent levels of consciousness and applying a sytems approach that places life-forms as subsets within cycles, we can justify eating an egg and a chicken (or meat) as easily as a plant (although I would stop before eating a human... can't be dispassionate about everything).

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  9. PoppyBoy Posted 11:23 am
    18 Sep 2009

    Such mammalistic bias. I agree with ppagesut, but go further. Who is to say that vegetables, grains, and other vegan-only life-forms are not sentient. Eating life is a fact of life. By removing heirarchys from apparent levels of consciousness and applying a sytems approach that places life-forms as subsets within cycles, we can justify eating an egg and a chicken (or meat) as easily as a plant (although I would stop before eating a human... can't be dispassionate about everything).

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  10. biofarmer Posted 4:02 am
    21 Sep 2009

    The most natural and noble thing we can do is to die and complete the cycle of life by providing other life the nutrition and place to complete theirs. Please no preservatives before or after I die. I have been blessed with life rather then survival. I will make sure that my actions and purchases support life rather then an industrialized survival and conveyer belt existance. I speak as a farmer that produces grassfed beef. If all those concerned with living conditions for other life were willing to support a living wage for those that grow their fruits, vegtibles, and meat, they would greatly deminish the factory farms. You vote with every dollar you spend. I admire the concern that makes this conversation happen.

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