Good Luck! I am anxiously waiting to hear how this turns out!
I (personally) think. IF she never lays and she provides you dinner she has still "pulled her weight" even if in a different form.
I can't say I could ACTUALLY be the one to "do the deed' that is what I have a husband for...
I have read that SOME RIR and NOT good egg layers.
From:
http://www.rhode-island-red.co.uk/
It is not unknown for some strains now to be barely capable of 100 eggs a year which is paltry compared to the good old days when birds routinely laid 250 plus and good ones could get up to 300 a...