My wife wants a rooster, but just have hens to have eggs for eating. Can you have a rooster without having fertile eggs. We're obviously new to chickens. We haven't gotten any yet, we're working on it though.
There's also nothing wrong with eating fertile eggs, they won't develop without incubation. Capons won't do the flock protection quite as aggressively as an intact rooster would. And if caponized before maturity, he is not guaranteed to crow (and I assume you want the rooster for the crowing).
I suspect you may want a rooster for the rooster benefits of peace in the flock, beauty, etc, but don't want chicks? The eggs are entirely edible. First, the speck of fertility on the surface of an egg is so teeny, tiny that it is almost impossible to detect with the naked eye. Further, many "natural" cage free eggs sold at the nicer markets are fertile. People buy eggs and eat them all the time. Some folks just have a mental block some kind, but honestly? When we eat an egg, we're eating an EGG! The ovum from the ovaries of the chicken!!! That speck of fertility is not an issue. LOL Few hatchery stock birds ever go broody so unless you hatch the eggs in an incubator, you're not likely to have chicks. Hope I didn't go too far afield.
Capons, from what I've read, don't act like roosters. Fertile eggs are just like normal eggs, don't worry.
You've probably eaten fertile eggs on and off from the store. Look around on other threads on folks fearing fertile eggs, there's lots of info on how not to get a suprise.
As long as you collect eggs daily/every other day or so the fertile egg have no chance to develop if you refridgerate them. As stated above you would likely be unaware if you were eating a fertile or infertile egg without extremely close inspection. They don't taste any different.
