Benefits of Backyard Eggs

Reader Contribution by Nicole Caldwell
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Three summers ago I adopted Henrietta, a laying hen with a bum leg. A friend across town had two dozen birds, and Henrietta’s leg injury put her way down in her flock’s pecking order. Her feathers were mostly gone, the roosters were taking advantage of her, and she was having a hard time getting to her food. If I didn’t take her in, my friend told me, the bird would be soup by nightfall. So I, along with the other people at Better Farm, adopted the bird. She lived several days in a cat carrier inside the house while we constructed a makeshift coop, bonding with the people and dogs of the house and beginning the long process of growing back her feathers and stamina.

So began the illustrious history of Better Farm‘s backyard chickens.

Henrietta was an Ameraucana who laid beautiful, pale turquoise eggs every day, then every other day, then sporadically, as she eased into adult life. Without any roosters around, those eggs went unfertilized and found themselves served up as breakfast to the Better Farm crew that took such good care of Henrietta. Interns in 2011 worried Henrietta was lonely; so in came Sissy and Scarlet to keep company. More eggs ensued. The following year saw a bunch more birds: three more Ameraucanas (Bernadette, Delores, and Destiny’s Child), nine bard rocks (Kiwi, Big Mama, Scooter, and six others we’re still trying to tell apart), and 19 spent hens from a local egg factory (all called Rapunzel).

I’ve participated in the egg debate ever since becoming vegan 11 years ago; a full decade after I opted for an octo-lavo, vegetarian diet. My reasons for going all the way had to do with no longer being able to separate dairy and eggs from the meat industry (pregnant, milk-producing cows produce calves, some of which will end up as veal; and “spent hens” are turned from egg-layers in horrifically cramped conditions to dog food or Campbell’s soup–not to mention the utter disregard for male chicks born in a laying hen’s world).

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