Shood rooster be seperated from the chicken laying hens?

[Frankgp]

Hi we are new to raising chickens our chickens have started laying eggs we were pretty excited when we saw the first eggs blue and pink ones ' My wife tells me we should have the rooster in a seperate pen if we don't want to have chicks out of the eggs . We want the eggs for the table. We would appreciate any help thank you. Frank

 

[GoldpartridgeHen]

You can still eat fertile eggs. The chick development only starts when you incubate.

 

[Achickenofmanycolors]

@Frankgp collect eggs twice a day if you can and immediately place them in the fridge after cleaning them off (if needed), but it's all about preference!

 

[featheredplanets]

Unless he’s stressing out or harming the hens, there’s no need to separate him. Keeping him alone wouldn’t be fair. Fertile eggs are fine to eat and like @BielefelderHen said, they’re only going to develop if incubated or brooded by a hen. When the egg is laid there’s no actual chick in it, it’s just a small cluster of cells - unless it’s incubated. If that still makes you uncomfortable it’d be best to rehome him (imo).

 

[Mrs. K]

Truthfully it takes a close eye to recognize a fertilized egg, but it is good to learn and practice as you cook. Check on here for the pictures of fertilized eggs. Chances are you have been eating fertilized eggs most of the time. One does not have to refrigerate them immediately, room temperature does nothing to cause growth.

Eggs are not like mammals in which growth begins immediately upon fertilization. The egg is just dormant until heat of near 100 degrees is applied for 24 hours +. This is an amazing thing, in that it allows birds to lay an egg, wait another day, lay and repeat until the clutch looks right to her. Until that point, she will not sit on the eggs. But when the broody hormone kicks in she will then go and set on the clutch, heat the clutch up to 100 degrees and they will all develop and hatch in the same 24 hours.

Otherwise, some eggs would be hatching and other have days to go...

Welcome to this hobby it is wonderful fun. Hope this helps.

Mrs K

 

[Frankgp]

Thank you I' am learning quite a bit since I found this web site it has been a lot of fun I like to just sit out by the pen and coop and watch there antics . we live in a rual area with coyotes and hawks roaming freely I built a cyclone fenced run 24 ft by 20 ft so they would be protected and the roof is covered with wire also . Thanks again to all that gave me advise I hope to post some pictures soon Frank

 

[rascal66]

Hello and welcome, hope you are enjoying the chickens!

So eggs for the table... You don't need to worry about the rooster at all. He will indeed breed with your hens and you will get fertile eggs, but unless you have a hen who is broody (sitting on eggs to hatch them) or you are incubating the eggs yourself, you won't ever have to worry about "getting chicks out of the eggs". It takes about a good couple days of incubation for the eggs to really start developing. As long as you are collecting the eggs every day, Don't worry- enjoy the eggs!

I'd love to share some articles for you to read but I'm on mobile currently.

 

[Momma hen quack]

My rooster shares a small area at night with 4 hens and they do fine together. He is great at signaling when there is possible danger and hens should hide when free ranging. He is the best addition to my hen house