Fu&*ing Organic Eggs!

[OtterDisgrace]

I've been purchasing organic eggs for years. Recently discovered that all egg farms, including all UK organic egg farms slaughter 40-70,000 male chicks alive each year. Some are gassed. They're simply surplus to requirements, such is mass production.
I would check if you buy from selective farms, too. Unfortunately I saw an image of little yellow male chicks being shunted along a conveyor belt into a grinder. Thankfully they didn't show you their fall.

I suppose I simply trusted the word organic. Personally I can't deal with that so I've quit egg products, although I am still a carnivore. It's worth being aware, just in case it matters to you.
My DP doesn't like it but still purchases free range. We can't expect other people to share our interests but I wish I had known much earlier on.

So organic chickens might have a fairly decent life and diet compared to free range, but the egg industry is taking the piss with its marketing.

im in Cumbria, no Waitrose, just Booths and M&S.

I’ve been veggie most of my life. I do eat eggs, cheese and butter. Feeling queasy about the eggs just now though.

I'm interested as to how the vegans can happily eat things like avocado and almonds knowing how bad they are for the environment? As I said before, everything we do has a consequence, I'm not berating anyone btw

What has killing make chicks got to do with being organic though? Obviously male chicks are surplus in an egg farm.

https://theguardian.com/environment/2020/dec/10/the-end-of-dairys-dirty-secret-farms-have-a-year-to-stop-killing-male-calves

This looks positive - not sure how far it got...

Ask them about their welfare standards then? You may well have a free range farm shop near you, that's where we go sometimes.

I suppose we would have to starve if we acknowledged everything, bar going survivor! It's a bloody mess. We are all caught up in it, from our food to our devices, it's a clusterfuck.

no need to be nowty love, i shall do as you suggest!

https://www.soilassociation.org/take-action/organic-living/what-is-organic/organic-eggs/

Organic egg production is the best way of ensuring that you get eggs from happy hens (aside from owning your own), but it's important to remember that there's always going to be an unpleasant element to rearing animals for food production (whether meat, eggs or milk).

I own my own hens and I love that I can give them a great quality of life. However, I bought them direct as 'sex guaranteed' chicks and at the end of the day, that means that there will have been unwanted male chicks that will have been raised for meat or dispatched straight away... it's 'farming reality'.

Yy @Coastalvenues , I always/only buy the highest welfare eggs. I know many are struggling to eat these days so there’s no judgement from me, but for myself I prefer to go without than to buy eggs with a lower welfare score. They’re still in other things I buy/eat occasionally though (eg if I have a cake while out, for example).

Oxford dictionary online states

.
(of food or farming methods) produced or involving production without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, or other artificial chemicals.

What in that definition relates to male chicks being killed? It's just a way of producing eggs without the use of artificial chemicals.

It is. But you can only do your best.

Where you have livestock you have deadstock.

Are there any local farms you can buy from? My mum has chickens and we get our eggs from her - not a farm but just 10 or so in the back garden. She leaves boxes at the end of her drive for neighbours too!

Best options here https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/food-drink/shopping-guide/eggs

Clarence court are widely available

I am afraid the male chicks are still surplus though, but they do get used as feed, so not wasted.

I can't judge anyone either. Most people probably don't even consider this and trust the word organic.
I am not naive, but this one sure as heck passed me by. I presume I am not aware of many things, going by my stupidity in this dept.

What's for certain tho is that if we attempt to avoid it, generally, we would have to live on a fucking island, like the kids in Blue Lagoon :(

"they do get used as feed"

I still have issue with this if they are conveyed, alive, into a grinder.

I don't eat either of those things.

I just don't eat things which are harmed, no animals or animal products.

And how can this ever, ever change when so many people are ignorant and poor? It is like the whole design is toxic, that enabling poverty in itself is the issue.
I know many people believe poverty is avoidable, but lol.

I mean seriously, choosing to not contribute to shitiness is a fucking financial and educative privilege. This is the problem in our society.

This article is quite informative.

Organic is the highest welfare standard unless you keep your own.

I am being really naive: why can’t we use the males for food and the females for laying? Is roast rooster very different to roast chicken?

And the same with cows: can we use the males
for steaks etc and the females for milk?

(For those who choose to eat meat obviously.)

I don't see a historic connection between income level and the male chick thing tbh..

Sorry if I’ve got the wrong end of the stick here (very tired!), but…

surely when they kill male chicks it is so that they can have more hens for laying or meat.

The eggs you eat could potentially have become male or female but never got that far.

So if you object to the killing of male chicks, you would have been better to keep eating eggs but give up eating chicken? (Although I’ve personally got no intention of giving up either).

"Most people probably don't even consider this and trust the word organic."

What do you mean? You can trust the word organic if what you're wanting is eggs from hens that are fed an organic diet, so without the use of chemical fertilisers.

Did you think organic meant the hens were lovingly hand reared and males were just kept in their thousands, roaming around like happy chickens until they die of natural causes?