Do You Need a Rooster?

   Many people think that in order to have fresh eggs, you need a rooster in your flock. This is not true. There are many questions and concerns when it comes to roosters as well. To help sort everything out, Fresh Eggs Daily offers the following:

"Why I Don't Keep a Rooster in My Backyard Chicken Flock

36 Fresh Eggs Daily® by Lisa of Fresh Eggs Daily  /  9d  //  keep unread  //  hide  //  preview

While roosters historically have played an extremely critical role in every flock of chickens, they have become largely obsolete in today's modern backyard flock. Many areas don't allow roosters, and even those who can have roosters are often opting to raise a hens-only flock. I am one of those people and I'll tell you why.
First of all, let's start with some of the benefits of having a rooster in the flock. These include fertilizing eggs, acting as a guard against predators, refereeing hen squabbles, scouting out goodies in the lawn, alarm clock and the basic visual appeal of a male chicken. So now let's go through them one by one and examine the potential role of a rooster in my current flock.

Egg Fertilization While you don't need a rooster in order for your hens to lay eggs, as you well know, those eggs will never hatch into chicks unless they have been fertilized by a rooster. So okay, a valid argument for keeping a rooster around  is to fertilize the eggs if you enjoy hatching chicks or plan on adding to your flock.
However, with the proliferation of online hatcheries like My Pet Chicken or breeders likeBrinkhaven Acres, it's very easy to purchase fertilized hatching eggs - and that's if you can't find any from a local farm. I've had great luck hatching shipped eggs, so I don't feel that keeping a rooster just for the one week of the year I might want to gather some fertilized eggs would be justified. Plus, by buying eggs, you can hatch different breeds than the ones you already have."
    Read the rest of the article at Why I Don't Keep a Rooster in My Backyard Flock