You probably wondered, at least once, about the eggs you eat and how they are made. You may have also asked, do hens need a rooster to lay eggs?
Fortunately, the eggs we eat are unfertilized, so we don’t need to worry about them turning into a baby chick if we don’t cook them in time.
What Does a Rooster Have to Do With Laying Eggs?
To put this simply, a chicken doesn’t need a rooster to lay eggs. Rooster or not, a chicken will lay an egg every 24 hours. The amount of time it takes differs from one hen to another. These are the eggs that you have at home, the unfertilized eggs.
When the egg is fertilized by the rooster, it will no longer be the edible eggs you have at home. In some cases, the hens will become broody and will resort to aggressiveness if someone tries to take her babies away from her. This could be a problem since she’ll also be sitting on the edible eggs that farmers want to harvest.
You may be wondering, why would chickens lay eggs if they’re not going to get them fertilized?
Why Does Chicken Lay so Many Unfertilized Eggs?
Similar to humans, the female body releases an egg every month in hopes of getting it fertilized. If the egg isn’t fertilized, it dies. Here comes the different part, the hen’s egg does not die. Instead, the egg develops, whether it’s fertilized or not.
Pros and Cons of Having a Rooster Around
Since you don’t need a rooster for your chickens to lay eggs, should you have a rooster or not?
Advantages of Having a Rooster on The Farm
These are some of the reasons that farmers keep roosters on the farm with the hens.
Hatching Baby Chicks
Obviously, if you want some baby chicks to run around the farm, you should get a rooster. You could either sell the chicks when they’re young to pet shops or you can let them grow on your farm. When they do, you may have more roosters.
For a ‘Normal’ Lifestyle
Hens and roosters live together naturally. If you have no males on the farm, it may disturb the natural balance of the farm.
They Protect The Flock
Males are the alphas in most animal populations. Although in case of a fox attack, the rooster won’t exactly fight it back. However, due to their feisty personality, they may cause a lot of noise to scare away predators.
Disadvantages of Having a Rooster on The Farm
Why isn’t it a good idea to keep roosters on the farm?
They Can Be Very Loud
Their strong personality may not always be a good thing. If you own a backyard farm and keep a rooster there, chances are you’re going to get complaints from your neighbors about the noise.
They Can Be Aggressive
When roosters are still baby chicks, they can still be kept together. As they grow, they become more aggressive with each other and with you. To avoid a brawl, you should separate them from each other.
Wrap Up
Most poultry farms are divided into three sections, eggs, white meat, and baby chicks. Every farm is different but it’s more profitable to work in those three fields. So whether an egg is fertilized or not, it doesn’t really matter, it’s still equal some profit.
But to answer your question, do hens need roosters? No chickens don’t need a rooster to lay eggs. But hens do need treats. Try these mealworms. Our hens can’t get enough!
