Natural chicken eggs - truth in chicken keeping

In May of 2012, I got my first chickens - 1 day old chicks, a straight run - and it has been an amazing journey. I LOVE my chickens, I LOVE birds in general.

So, this post is about the eggs of my sweet girls, or rather, the egg laying. Some would call this a rant - but actually, it is the truth about what humans have done to chickens.
It has been 10 months and in the last few days, somethink else happened: I see those hens, the little ones and the big ones and notice: there are times - when they have yolks to fertilize inside - that they attract roosters more than others - and every day, all year - leading to wear and tear of their poor backs...but more importantly - I see them laying eggs: sometimes patiently, sometimes agitated and restless before, sometimes literally screaming when the

egg passes, and very often panting as if in labor - which they are.  Some will sit for a few minutes on the nest with remnants of their "nest-fixing" behavior, only to leave the nest. Broodiness has been bred out of  egg layers.

They are working hard - every day, and  attention from roosters every afternoon all year long - no break - so no wonder we have to cut the number of roosters..

THE WHOLE THING IS UNNATURAL. The entire: "lay an egg a day thing" is actually abusive. It is not quite like GMO chickens, but still, abnormal chickens. I feel bad for them ....

....  having to lay an egg a day and the resources that must consume in their bodies - they can't even forage enough food to sustain it. 

A first egg

Every day all year going through labor ....sweet little girls ...they don't seem to care much, and they don't know better - but it is NOT NATURAL....it IS using them and all the proud: OH she laid an egg a day all year  - is really being proud of having succeeded in perfect abuse. And the hens are spent spent spent after a couple of years as the number of yolks is limited.

It would be more "natural" to get meat from them, come to think of it, to let them be, let them be broody once a year after maybe stealing a few eggs for yourself and let them raise a clutch of chicks, and, unless you have a balanced predator control on your property, you are gonna have to cull - and get meat - not eggs. In the end, if you are not willing to cull, you can't keep chickens the natural way - and one option is to keep a few rescue hens, which will allow you to enjoy the birds, and maybe an occasional egg.

One of the reasons  we have Easter eggs is: there were no available eggs in Winter, otherwise we'd have had Christmas eggs.

So - I enjoy eggs - and I see that my girls have been bred to be living abnormal lives - abused by being forced to lay an egg almost every  day. At the very least, I owe them a decent chicken life.
I suppose you call it "progress" for humans, not being so dependent on the seasonal fluctuations of food supply ....the "problem" is: we are using breathing living beings for this, beings who feel - and who only have this one life to live on earth.

Once my current flock has lived out its days, all I can ever keep is rescue chickens. At least, I won;t be getting any more chicken from a hatchery. IF I were able to cull appropriately - I'd breed them back to normalcy....for truly natural chicken breeds....and I bet ya that you would be able to keep many more roosters to the hens.

Knowing what it takes to get eggs, and seeing the relative indifference with which people treat those precious perfect creations seals the deal: my answer to more chickens for eggs is NO.... unless they are rescue hens....don't ask me what I will do if one of the hens goes broody, I got a non-broody breed for a reason ... it made sense at the time.