I was writing a lengthy response but this is pretty spot on. What I'll add is I've encountered this dozens of times "what about native peoples?" and honestly,

I was writing a lengthy response but this is pretty spot on. What I'll add is I've encountered this dozens of times "what about native peoples?" and honestly, me and most vegans I know don't want to take away native practices. We're not doing outreach to native people either, it's the westernized people which do the most ecological damage, as well a damage to sentient life. Also, most vegans disagree with backyard chickens because they come from a breeder[1]. It's similar to why you should rescue a dog, not get a pure bred, people like doing things efficiently to maximize return which means not much regard for the chickens or dogs, god awful for the animals themselves. So, if your friends rescued them, treats them well, and doesn't kill them when their egg laying slows down, I don't think you'll find many vegans up in arms against them. I personally wouldn't eat the eggs of any chickens I rescued, because I don't need them and preventing them from laying eggs gives them a better life as "modern chickens" are bred to produce way too many eggs so are very prone to ovarian cancer. [1] http://freefromharm.org/farm-animal-welfare/backyard-chickens-expanding-understanding-harm/ http://freefromharm.org/farm-animal-welfare/backyard-chicken...