Are backyard eggs vegan-friendly?

Sanctuaries that rescue hens from the egg industry often feed eggs back to the hens to replace the calcium they lose through laying. That is very different from buying backyard chickens.

Any breeder, hatchery or feed-store chick supply chain kills male chicks at hatch — the same industrial system as caged eggs.

If you care for rescued hens, consider cooking their eggs and feeding them back to the birds to help them recover lost nutrients. A common counter-argument is that the eggs will 'go to waste,' but in nature, birds often eat their own unhatched eggs to regain calcium. The core ethical issue remains that buying hens from any commercial source, no matter how small, supports the hatcheries that kill millions of male birds every year.