Roosters with egg laying hens?

[ninemileneighbor]

We will be getting our first chickens this spring and have a question that has been bugging me. We are getting chickens for the eggs they produce.

We will be getting day olds from the local co-op and I do not believe them to be sexed so we will more than likely end up with roosters.

What do I do with the roosters? We would like to keep one but we're only getting 15 chickens, too many roosters is a problem, no?

Will I need to separate them from the hens? Wouldn't they fertilize the eggs which would negate my purpose of having chickens? I've been through the past 35 pages of topics with no luck.

Thanks!

 

[rooster-red]

You can eat fertilized eggs just like unfertilized, no difference in taste or texture.

Extra Roo's can be rehomed or eaten.

Too many roo's together can be a problem.

You need about 10 hens per roo.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Fertilized eggs are perfectly edible, trust me. I eat them all the time.

For your surplus roosters you can either cull them and eat them, try to sell them, or give them away.

 

[ninemileneighbor]

Fantastic, that answered what I needed to know about the eggs. Once removed from the nest, the embryo will die and then an egg is an egg, correct?

If I want to cull (and eat) the roosters, do I need to separate them from the hens if I have too many?

I want to say that this forum is absolutley fantastic, it's full of useful information. Thanks!

 

[rooster-red]

If you collect the eggs often and refrigerate them, there will be no embryo.

 

[coloradochick]

Welcome NMN, that was a question that I posted awhile ago and wasn't answered so I'm glad you posted it again. I'm not sure if I want to eat a fertilized egg or not. Even if it doesn't look like it. Just me and something I probably need to get over. Good luck with your babies

 

[Cuban Longtails]

I would go ahead and separate your extra roosters once they get closer to the 5 month mark, you can keep them all in the same pen (pretty much a bachelor pen). It will cause less stress on your layers that would otherwise tend to affect their laying cycle, because the extra roosters would be over-mating them.

I didn't do this and a few of my hens are bare-backed because the constant mating from the roosters was pulling out their feathers. Now that I penned up my extra guys, the girls are getting a rest and regrowing feathers.

 

[dbjay417]

fertile eggs are only activated when the hen begins to spend most of her time on them. If shes just getting in the nest to lay and then goes about her business, the eggs are the same as infertile eggs. If fact, because my rooster started doing what he does before my hens started doing what they do, I'd wager that I've not eaten a single infertile egg from my current flock.

 

[ninemileneighbor]

What is the best age to slaughter the "chosen" roosters?

 

[Kentucky~Momma]

I guess everyone gave great answers.....nothing to add~