Why? If they’re not fertilized eggs then the other option is letting them rot (or watch as mama chicken eats them, because contrary to our weird fantasies about the nature of nature, it is rough out there). Besides, it’s not theft, it’s a trade for food, security, and lodging.

> Besides, it’s not theft, it’s a trade for food, security, and lodging.

That sort of logic gets you back to farming animals for meat though. We're giving them a relatively cushy life compared to wild animals (at least in some cases), but cutting it short. It's easier to maintain the moral high ground if you simply cut out all animal products period.

So... eggs and honey are slippery slopes. Really. And vegans wonder why the public at large won’t engage with them?

May as well cut out all those vegetables & grains that are fertilized with animal byproducts as well.

It's not rational at that point anymore, it's almost religious.

What if the chickens give you the eggs?

Trouble is that there is no chicken alive capable of expressing with out a single trace of ambiguity such an intention.