A few dumb quesitons on chickens

[Lahey]

Sorry if this is in the wrong place, and for the elementary nature of these questions
.
I'm just getting started with chickens..have a lot of land for them to range on and had material lying around for a coop. They are almost to the age now where I will be able to tell males from females. I see a lot of people talking about keeping one rooster for protection of a flock..but if you do that won't all the eggs be fertilized? One of the main reasons I'm keeping them is for eggs...though I would like to maybe raise another batch of youngins next spring. Would I have to get rid of the rooster now and then buy another one to fertilize the eggs next spring...or is there any way to keep a rooster around without him getting to the chickens?

 

[steelchair]

You can eat fertilized eggs.

 

[Lahey]

You can eat fertilized eggs.

huh

for some reason i never considered that! so its okay to keep roosters around? and then if you want chicks just incubate the eggs?

 

[lclough1998]

absolutely you can eat the eggs that are fertile, you just need to collect the eggs daily and maybe you will get lucky and have a broody hen and you can set some eggs under her

 

[Lahey]

Thanks for the help guys. That was the piece of the picture I wasn't getting..

The chickens, btw, are amber links...I got them at a few days old and now they are around 8-10 weeks and all look healthy and happy. There's 21 of em