Being vegan and keeping chickens?

Tristan

Newcomer
Joined
Jun 20, 2017
Reaction score
4
Age
20
Location
Los Angeles
Lifestyle
  1. Vegan
  2. Vegan newbie
I'm sure this has been asked many times but I haven't found the exact answer I've been looking for. Some vegans such as Jake Mace(the VeganAthlete on YouTube) keep chickens. I've seen eggshells in his compost pile but I'm not sure what he does with the yolk.

Lately I've been thinking about keeping chickens and using their poop in a compost bin as an added nutrient source for the plants. But I don't know what I would do with the eggs. I definitely wouldn't eat them as I can easily make a tofu scramble that tastes much better. Should I wait until the eggs go bad to use them in the compost or let the chickens eat them?
 
Why don't you just do nothing with them? Just leave them on the floor. And then tell us what happens. You can report back on whether the chickens actually use their own unfertilized eggs in some way.

I suppose if you can be vegan and keep a cat (which you can) then it must be possible to be vegan and keep a chicken.

The real question is where are you going to get the chickens from?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jo1101
Why don't you just do nothing with them? Just leave them on the floor. And then tell us what happens. You can report back on whether the chickens actually use their own unfertilized eggs in some way.

I suppose if you can be vegan and keep a cat (which you can) then it must be possible to be vegan and keep a chicken.

The real question is where are you going to get the chickens from?
Some sort of farm sanctuary of course and I would make sure that they were rescued and not paid for.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SD Joe
I live in San Diego and they have farm sanctuaries where animals can live their life out without being destroyed for food. Also bravo for helping out the animals and giving them a safe place to live.
 
Veganism is a movement involving environment, health and morals and the core of this movement, the core of veganism - is to avoid the exploitation of animals and speciesism.
I know how natural it feels to feel that there's nothing wrong with keeping chickens to breed and use their waste and eggs, but that's a societal belief that's built so deep into all of us, that we don't even question it. It's not easy changing beliefs, even when the facts present themselves as you already know since becoming vegan, people will do a lot to defend whatever it is they're doing if it means they have to change, whether it's damaging or not. Like I said, being vegan, you'll know about this with meat eaters. Which is a natural response, we're built to preserve as much energy as as possible with the least amount of effort. So we resist new information because new information often leads to change.
But we are an intelligent species, and as the intelligent species on this planet we'll need to learn better and know better.
Being an intelligent species, in comparison to the rest anyway, we think we own this planet and the animals on it, but we really, really don't.
The planet will far outlive us and is the thing that gave us life in the first place, and we are animals just the same.
True veganism is about not exploiting animals for personal gain where practicable and possible, some speciesism will take a while to clean out of this society, but there is a lot we can do as individuals today.
There is an endless amount of vegan options for getting fertile land, it just takes looking. As I said, this does take efforting to an extent so it's not what people want to hear, but the question I always ask myself is what's more important; my ego or the truth? And seen as the truth is the only thing that really exists so the only thing that can last, and egos always get us into trouble lol, my answer is always the same.
I'm all for rescuing institutionalised animals who can no longer survive in the wild, but unquestionably taking what isn't ours from defenseless animals because we deem their intelligence inferior, is killing us, and our planet with this consistent and unceasing mindset that we somehow own them.
As hard as the was to write and as equally hard as it is, I'm sure, to read, its the truth - and I hope that answers your question.

There's always alternatives, whether discovered or not all it takes it looking - seek and you shall find. And the only way to be consistent and effective is to live by principle, especially if the opposing principle is our egotistical ownership of animals.
 
Last edited:
I'm sure this has been asked many times but I haven't found the exact answer I've been looking for. Some vegans such as Jake Mace(the VeganAthlete on YouTube) keep chickens. I've seen eggshells in his compost pile but I'm not sure what he does with the yolk.

Lately I've been thinking about keeping chickens and using their poop in a compost bin as an added nutrient source for the plants. But I don't know what I would do with the eggs. I definitely wouldn't eat them as I can easily make a tofu scramble that tastes much better. Should I wait until the eggs go bad to use them in the compost or let the chickens eat them?
Hi
I would suggest that you look up about chickens first. Try to answer these questions: What would happen if the eggs were not removed from the chicken coop/pen? Would there be any risk to the chickens or anyone else?
If you decide it would be best to move them, why not use them to bake cakes to sell to animal-friendly* charities? Of course, you should look up and ask people politely about the legality of this first.
* By "animal-friendly", I don't just mean animal charities. I mean charities that don't unnecessarily abuse or kill animals. For instance, if you went with a medical charity, please make sure that they don't fund or conduct animal testing/experiments first. Also, if you wanted to help the poor, please make sure that the charity doesn't do any animal projects, such as Send-A-Cow, and they will only use the money you send them to provide vegan food for the people. Even if you go with an animal charity, please make sure that, if they actually have animals, they only kill them when they absolutely have to, that they treat them and they always kill them as humanely as they can when they do have to (e.g. An aggressive/defensive animal who cannot be retrained or rehabilitated, or one that is ill/injured and cannot be cured or helped, and their quality of life would badly affected).
Best of luck.
 
Chickens are precious. They're loud as heck though. I guess just google a book on chicken raising or go on YouTube and see how people take care of chickens.