According to Tom Vesey, quoted in todays's Times, he thinks that It can be painful to the hen to lay a larger egg.
Vesey is the chairman of the British Free Range Producers' Association, who says that if you want to be kind to hens, you should eat medium, not large or very large, eggs.
Christine Nicol, Professor of Animal Welfare at the University of Bristol, said: There is no strong published evidence of pain in egg-laying hens but it's not unreasonable to think there may be a mismatch in the size of birds and the eggs they produce. We do often spot bloodstains on large eggs. As a personal decision I would never buy jumbo eggs.
Mark Williams, head of the British Egg Industry Council, said shoppers mostly opted for large eggs, thinking they offered better value for money. Alan Pearson, spokesman for the British Poultry Veterinary Association, said that there are bigger welfare issues that people have in their minds, such as hens in cages. "The size of an egg rarely causes problems for the bird.
What all of these people are not discussing is the obvious fact that any method of keeping chickens for laying purposes causes distress. This is not because of the size of the cages, the number of dandylions and insects they get to scratch up in their free range field, or the relative size of egg to oriface. The distress comes from the fact that chickens have been bred to have such very very strong mothering instincts to regularly lay eggs and sit on them. Taking their eggs away every time they lay the things has to be deeply distressing.
Whenever I find myself being talked to in that patronising way that only a preachy, self-righteous vegetarian can have I ask them whether they eat eggs. When they invariably tell me they do, but only free range ones I always remark - 'Ah, so its not a moral choice then.' I am not a hypocrite - I eat eggs. My wife and I have a smallholding where we keep some chickens: they are as free range as it is possible to be if you also want to grow things on the land. But I don't pretend that what I do is kind to chickens, no matter what it says on the box.
