Rooster, hens and eating eggs

[Sudsy]

Hi there
We currently have 2 hens and are looking at expanding to around 5 hens after building a coop and run. We live in a semi rural area and would love to have a rooster also. We are hearing mixed messages from people about whether having a rooster would impact on the eggs we would have to eat.
Would having a rooster reduce the number of eggs we will have available to eat?. Would the chickens only produce fertilized eggs I.e chicks rather than edible eggs?.
We are not keen on having multiple baby chicks fathered by the rooster. We just live the farm sound of a rooster in the morning.

Alex

 

[Fred's Hens]

Many "natural" or "free range" eggs you buy in fancier markets are indeed fertilized, as there is no difference. It's a speck so small you'd never see it unless you really, really, know how to look for it. Unless you incubate the eggs, or a hen goes broody, which is rare in many breeds, no chick ever grows or develops.

Hens lay without a rooster and don't need a rooster in order to lay. That said, a rooster makes a really nice flock addition, but crow, crow and crow some more!! You could give it a try, but both you and your neighbors, if they are within a 1/4 mile, will have to like it.

 

[1muttsfan]

As Fred says, there is no reason you can't eat eggs that have been fertilized - if they are collected regularly and not brooded, they are fertile but not developing. They don't start forming an embryo unless brooded by a hen or in an incubator (I would not eat eggs from a surprise hidden nest though, you never know what youwill get there). Some free-range store bought eggs are from flocks with roosters.

You don't need a rooster, but they can make good flock additions, they are pretty, and a good one will look after the girls.