Rooster Blues?

[TheGimpyChicken]

I bought a flock of 10 hens about a month ago, an they have been great. I've been getting 6-8 eggs a day, but about 5-6 days ago production dropped down to 1-2 eggs, I know they produce less in the winter but this is a bit of an odd time for production to slow down. The thing i'm wondering is since I have only hens is, if I get a rooster would it make the chickens produce more? And besides protection for free range chickens, what other benefits are there to having a rooster?

 

[AshVau22]

No, getting a rooster will not make them produce more. I keep roosters for breeding mostly. I do enjoy the fact that they keep the peace with the ladies. They also make it easier to add young ones into my flock. And protection. These are my personal opinions. All my boys are worth those 3:00am crows.

 

[FrostRanger]

Roosters have nothing to do with egg production, they only fertilize eggs. Why they slowed down now rather than earlier, who knows. In any case, they'll pick up again on their own whether they have a rooster around or not. A health check of everyone might be in order just to make sure that there's nothing serious going on but they should be fine, just be patient

 

[McChooky]

My hens barely lay in the month of January. None of my older hens are laying now but they did last month. I'm only getting 2-3 eggs a day but they'll start laying again in late February and March.The days are getting longer now

 

[McChooky]

I bought a flock of 10 hens about a month ago, an they have been great. I've been getting 6-8 eggs a day, but about 5-6 days ago production dropped down to 1-2 eggs, I know they produce less in the winter but this is a bit of an odd time for production to slow down. The thing i'm wondering is since I have only hens is, if I get a rooster would it make the chickens produce more? And besides protection for free range chickens, what other benefits are there to having a rooster?

December 21 or 22 is the shortest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere .From this forward every day gets longer(more daylight)
Chickens need 14 hrs of daylight per day to lay good.The less light they get the fewer eggs they'll lay.Most will stop laying altogether.

 

[JedJackson]

Roosters sometimes alert hens to danger and a few might attack a predator, but mostly they are not effective for flock protection. The dominant hen tends to take over those responsibilities anyway when there is no rooster around.