The search for a happy egg
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Image by Victoria Ronco
Will Victoria find an egg that's truly cruelty-free?
When I read Glenn Gaetz's guest blog post, Understanding ‘Cruelty-Free’ Eggs, my heart sank. As I read paragraph to paragraph, I kept thinking, "He's going to tell us what to do at the end, right? There's a happy egg out there, right!?" But Glenn offered no such hope—and I just couldn't accept the thought that there were no happy eggs to be had, that I'd have to go egg-less. It was too tough to swallow, and so I decided I would embark on a mission…
The Quest for the Happy Egg
Before the quest:
Before I started my quest, I was eating organic eggs. I thought that they were the best of the bunch, guaranteeing both free run and certified organic feed to the chickens. But, they weren’t entirely cruelty-free.
I've always tried to shop locally and organically wherever possible, and I don't mind making a longer trip in order to do so, so I was willing to do a little homework to find a better egg.
The initial findings:
I started out by doing some online research and found information that only confirmed what Glenn had written. The BC-SPCA's comparison chart (PDF) illustrates the differences between poultry and livestock that is “Conventional,” “SPCA Certified” and “Certified Organic (COABC).”
According to the chart the latter two are against de-beaking and allow for the most humane quality of life possible—including at the time of slaughter. However, these standards do not address the issue of the male chicks that are killed because they aren't egg producers, nor do they address what happens to laying hens after their two years of maximum egg productivity are up.
I checked out the Humane Society of the United State's Brief Guide to Egg Carton Labels and was horrified to discover that USDA-certified “Organic” egg producers allow forced molting—a.k.a. starving the birds—and beak cutting. It seemed that for the US the only label that prohibited these acts was “Animal Welfare Approved.” Not much use to me, however, here in Canada.
But with so many farms here in BC, I figured it was time to hit the road.
I DO think it's a good article, though, for discussing a lot of the ethical issues with free-range, organic, and other "humane" eggs. Good to get that info out there.
A happy egg, perhaps, but not a happy chicken.
Victoria Ronco clearly values sustainability and compassion, and I understand her unwillingness to accept that eggs can’t be cruelty-free, as they seem to be an innocent byproduct of having chickens. But in her search for the happy egg, I wasn’t convinced because she neglected to answer a few of her own questions, such as where the chicks at Klippers Organic Acres come from. If any farmer wants to have more chickens than roosters that requires slaughtering the males, and in hatcheries baby male chicks are tossed into large garborators at birth (see the film Baraka for an inside look). Not only that, but upon further investigation Klippers Organic Acres (otherwise an excellent source of organic produce) sells chicken!
Klippers apparently told Victoria that they kept their chickens “until the end of their natural lives, rather than disposing of them after they reached the unproductive age”. They may keep their egg-laying hens into old age (which I doubt because it's not a profit-conscious move, which is why other egg farmers don’t do this – as Glenn’s Granville post clearly states “there are no farms that keep on feeding and caring for hens for the years after they stop laying eggs. It’s a simple matter of economics”), but Klippers slaughters and sells their other chickens, and also sells turkeys. (http://klippersorganics.com/csahandbook.html)
There is no happy way to slaughter an animal. Sorry to be a buzz kill.
I have some friends who have rescued chickens who have fallen off the truck at the Hallmark Poultry factory off East Hastings and, to pay for their keep, sell their chicken’s eggs. This is may be the only ethical egg practice out there.
@anonymous - the problem with free range is that it doesn't guarantee no-debeaking, forced malting and can often mean lots of birds in one 'free range' space (no room to establish natural pecking order)
just to clarify...I guess the only downfall is that the boy chicks are euthenized before Klipper Farms buys their hens?
Thanks again for this post, I really appreciate your research!
Cheers,
Laura
www.veggiekins.wordress.com
Remember, everything starts with one person.
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