So from the hard core vegans, can someone educate me about eggs? I keep getting the "eggs are ok" speech from people saying as lng as they are organic and free range...blah blah blah.

I don't know much about the egg debates, and like I said before I decided to eat a vegan diet for health reasons, not animal rights, although I am getting more and more upset over the animal issues as I educate myself. I passed a truck full of cows the other day with "Harris Ranch" painted across it and I wanted to cry. :(

Anyone have any good websites or videos that I can take a look at regarding eggs? The more I learn, the happier I am with my new choices.

Do you want to eat eggs or are you looking to explain to others why this is not an ethical choice?

If you are wanting to eat eggs but only want to eat ethical eggs then you need to find a friend with chickens or have a couple yourself.
If your lucky enough to live in an area with Amish they often times sell their eggs and thier chickens roam the yard and are not caged or anything.
As for organic it dosnt mean much as far as ethics go and free range can mean anything from they can see some daylight to actualy being a free range animal never put in a cage but I can tell you the second of those two you will never find in a store.

I passed a truck full of cows the other day with "Harris Ranch" painted across it and I wanted to cry. :(

UGH! I HATE Harris Ranch!! My bf and I have to drive by it on our way to visit his mom. It smells soooo bad! And it's such a sad sight to see the poor cows all crowded with no grass or anything :(

But anyway...about eggs. Eggs have cholesterol in them, and the max amount of cholesterol you should eat a day is 300mg and one egg has 210 mg of cholesterol.

I don't want to eat eggs. I want to be educated about eggs. I know the issues with regular eggs but I don't know anything about free range organic eggs. Any books or videos you uys can refer me to? Any help is appreciated. I am going to reserach it myself but I have a lot of resources in a condensed area at this board.

UGH! I HATE Harris Ranch!! My bf and I have to drive by it on our way to visit his mom. It smells soooo bad! And it's such a sad sight to see the poor cows all crowded with no grass or anything :(

But anyway...about eggs. Eggs have cholesterol in them, and the max amount of cholesterol you should eat a day is 300mg and one egg has 210 mg of cholesterol.

I know. It makes me sick to think I actually got excited about eating steaks from there once. :( I am so glad I am not that ignorant anymore.

Thanks for the cholesterol fact. That helps with the "eggs aren't bad for you" comments. ;)

Here's a page that puts forth the facts:

http://www.lists.ufl.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0305&L=aaa-l&P=2025

"Free range" hens pretty much never are, and most/all of the males are always killed.

From the "Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Farm Animals" of Canada.

"One approach to improving the welfare of spent fowl is reduced handling and transportation time.

Humane on-farm disposal of spent hens is encouraged as are ongoing improvements to systems currently in place. As more data from on-farm slaughter become available, such techniques may be used more frequently.

1.7 Euthanasia and Disposal of Nonsalable Chickens

1.7.1 Live chicks that are to be disposed of must be handled in a manner comparable to the handling of salable chicks.

1.7.2. In all circumstances, the planned termination of life must be humane and must be done in a manner that produces total and irreversible loss of consciousness, with a minimal amount of distress to the chicks and to the person performing euthanasia.

1.7.3. High speed maceration of chicks is a practical and humane method of euthanasia. When properly designed macerators are used, death occurs instantaneously. In addition, the method is safe for workers.

1.7.6. Carbon dioxide and/or combination with gases such as argon have been found to be suitable methods for euthanasia of unwanted chicks. High concentrations of carbon dioxide are required because day-old chicks are relatively resistant to the gas.

1.7.12 For small number of birds, decapitation or cervical dislocation is acceptable when performed by competent personnel."

Translations:
'Unwanted chicks/spent layers': Chickens that won't bring us money or won't bring us money anymore.

'Maceration': Crushing.

'Cervical dislocation': Breaking the neck.

Source document here: http://www.carc-crac.ca/common/Code%20of%20Practice%20-%20Meat%20English.pdf

It sure put me off my eggs...

Maceration apparently sometimes takes up to 15 seconds for the chick to be sufficiently cut up to actually die.

Great info. Thanks guys!!!