Fantasy v. Reality - Eggs

This series of posts compares the fantasy of products that we use with the hard reality behind them.  (It began with a post that I planned to be short but since I couldn't do the topic justice without elaboration, it became so long that I chose to turn it into a series.)   I offer the topics in no particular order - and this list is just a sampling of the conveniences we enjoy without understanding the price we (but usually others) pay for them.  

Eggs

Source

Eggs in the grocery store are pretty and pristine, and the companies that sell them put pastoral drawings or names on the cartons to make one think that the eggs come from "happy" family farms.

The reality is that the farms are not owned by friendly Farmer John or Farmer Jane.  And the chickens experience a living hell during their short stay on the planet.  They have their beaks partially removed when they are chicks and are confined to crates so small and cramped that they cannot turn around or spread their wings.  Many have deformed feet from the wire cages.  Disease is rampant, thus the need for routine use of antibiotics.  This laying chicken was rescued from a factory farm:

Source:  Truth Beckons facebook page

These chickens are living, breathing creatures, who have feelings and have a right to a natural life.  And I haven't begun to discuss the beef, pork, poultry, and dairy industries.  (Notice we don't call them what they are:  cows, pigs, chickens, turkeys.)