Is buying poultry eggs from the markets to cook considered a form of misdeed from killing?

Answer
by Venerable Dhattajeevo Bhikku

Eggs have always been Thai people’s favorite food. It’s good to ask this question because it’s better to be careful. The eggs found in today’s markets are mostly fresh from a poultry farm. The eggs in the markets are not the eggs left behind by chicken or ducks in the wild.

Presently, most eggs in the markets are not fertilized because people already separated them. They separate the rooster. Therefore, though we incubate these eggs, they will not hatch because no lives exist in them. In this case, no matter how many eggs we eat, it doesn’t cause retributions from killing. You just need to watch the cholesterol. If you eat too much and the cholesterol become high, it will affect your health. 

Now, the second kind of egg is an egg which has been fertilized by a rooster. If this kind of egg is not incubated, life will not take place because a life will begin only after the egg is incubated and a fetus is formed. When does this happen? Let’s observe. Anyone who lives close to a hatchery or a neighbor who owns poultry or ducks knows that if we looked at this type of egg with a flashlight a few days after it is laid, we will find that it’s still clear and without anything inside.

But after 5 or 6 days after it’s laid, we will see a dot with blood lines. This is the beginning of life. It requires air for breathing which means it already can breathe. After that, it will keep growing, from a dot to a lump, then to a fetus.  Later feathers and other features will form.  When a month has gone by, a baby chick will hatch out of the shell.

Now, if an egg starts having a dot and blood lines, it means life has begun. It has started breathing. In this process, if somebody eats that egg, it means he is performing the act of killing that will result in retribution. But if we eat an unfertilized egg, or though it’s fertilized but not incubated, where there isn’t a fetus, we will not acquire any retribution.

This is different from lizard or gecko eggs. These eggs don’t need to be incubated. They just lay their eggs the way snakes do. Their eggs can hatch without any incubation. If we took their eggs and break them, we will see their fetuses.  This will give you demerit.

Poultry eggs still require incubation. Before incubation, fertilization is also required. After they are fertilized and incubated, they will appear as dots. If somebody eats them, it means he is performing the act of killing. If they are fertilized but still not incubated, life has not yet begun. Therefore, if somebody eats these eggs, he will not get demerit. We have to clearly understand this before making a decision.

Because this precept is Panatipata, which means the killing of living creatures, creatures that can breathe and have life. If it’s not incubated, it still doesn’t contain a life. So it can be consumed. Before placing the blame on anyone, we have to clearly see this situation and avoid performing the incorrect actions.

Now supposing that the eggs in the market are fertilized. Their shells look creamy white.  This shows that they are new, no matter if they are fertilized or not.  Life has not begun in them yet, so we can eat them. But if they look old, and you are not certain, you should leave them alone and look for newer eggs. That’s it, and we won’t have to take any risk.