Rooster with my laying hens?

[poncahills]

I bought sexed chicks to raise as laying hens, but one turned out to be a rooster. He's really attractive, not aggressive, and rarely crows. I wouldn't mind keeping him around.

But, eggs are my main priority with my girls. They've just started laying, and so far their eggs have been fine. I get their eggs daily, immediately wash them and then put them in the fridge.

My question is:

Will having a rooster be a problem? I've cracked open a partially developed egg before and wouldn't like to repeat the experience -- or visit it upon anyone I'm providing eggs for. If I immediately refrigerate my eggs, is there any chance of this happening? What are the downsides of keeping my rooster in the henhouse?

Thanks!

 

[AKsmama]

Eggs have to be incubated (or sat on) for a certain amount of time at a certain temp for a chick to begin to develop. That takes days. As long as you collect daily, you are fine. You can leave the fertilized eggs on the counter for days and they won't develop because conditions aren't right. I have 5 roos with my girls and the only problems we have is a bit of overmating, which I am going to fix with chicken saddles.

 

[Pinky]

The only downside I see to having a rooster is he may overmate the hens and cause them to loose their feathers on their back and head, but, that usually doesn't happen if you have enough hens.

 

[D'Angelo N Va.]

Oh no problems at all. You will not get partially incubated eggs as long as the hen doesn't go broody for a few days with eggs under her.

 

[Minniechickmama]

Only one roo shouldn't be any problem at all. It is probably good, in fact, he can take care of his girls, watch out for danger, find them treats and give them some lovin'. They will all be happy chicks and be fine. If you collect every day, you have no worries. I just wouldn't eat any eggs that you might find hidden somewhere that you are unsure of their age. Even then, I have done the float test since it was during cooler weather and ended up using them and nothing was wrong at all.