Considering that the school biology course was completed a long time ago, and a lot of things went out of my head, questions such as: “Can hens carry eggs without a rooster?” People just do not need this information in everyday life. That is why there is a great opportunity for the dissemination of all sorts of myths, unfounded claims, harmful misconceptions. In the best case scenario, one can simply fall into a ridiculous or awkward situation, in the worst case - pass on your misconceptions to children or even become a victim of scammers. This issue should be considered in a practical application in life, bypassing the boring course of initial zoology.
Does the farm need a full-fledged chicken family?
The pastoral picture of rural life is often supplemented by a classic chicken family - a cockerel and several chickens. This image is constantly replicated in children's picture books, and thanks to the visual image, information is deposited as the ultimate truth, and then an adult does not really know if a chicken carries eggs without a rooster. Misconceptions turn out to be so great that there are even tips: if chickens began to rush badly, then this cock does not cope with its duties.
If the question “Can hens lay eggs without a rooster?” turn to specialists, you can get a definite answer - yes. However, handsome roosters, who are not needed at all to get a product for scrambled eggs and morning omelet, continue to crow in private courtyards.
Can hens lay eggs without a rooster: chicken physiology
If we consider the physiology of chicken, then everything becomes clear. An egg is an egg, which, subject to fertilization, can develop into a full-fledged organism. Then a chicken will hatch from an egg. However, in the absence of a rooster, the chicken cannot independently turn off the egg production mechanism, as most female individuals in other birds and animals, including humans, cannot do.
Indeed, can chickens lay eggs without a rooster and is it important? But a chicken egg is not a future chicken at all, as every female egg without male sex cells will never become a baby. Therefore, in the absence of a rooster, there will be eggs, but chickens can not be expected.
The healing properties of fertilized eggs
On any error you can make money. This is not a completely honest practice, often clearly flowing into fraud. For example, there is such a myth that fertilized chicken eggs have a special set of incredibly valuable trace elements that can cure everything, including severe forms of cancer. Asking a naive and harmless question, whether a chicken can lay eggs without a rooster, a person does not even suspect that such ignorance plays into the hands of fraudsters.
In fact, fertilized eggs do not have any magical properties, except for the pleasant probability of still getting a chicken at the end of the incubation period. An insignificant number of germ cells, which is sometimes even indistinguishable by the human eye and is detected only with the help of an ovoscope, is not able to cope with diseases. Perhaps this belongs to the category of mysticism, designed to use the placebo effect.
Natural renewal of chicken stock
Of course, a rooster in the chicken kingdom is necessary, especially if there are several good brood hens in the house. In this case, the young chicken will be reproduced naturally without additional financial injections. A small household farm in this case receives a good help.
Beginner poultry farmers often worry whether a chicken can lay eggs without a rooster, because they are primarily aimed at getting enough eggs. I want to reassure them - the absence of a male in the chicken kingdom does not affect either the quantity or quality of eggs. Otherwise, large poultry farms would work on a completely different principle.
Rooster - Assistant in a private household
What is the use of a rooster besides sonorous crowing early in the morning and hatching of chickens from eggs? Here it is not necessary to minimize its role, because a cock can become a real helper, sometimes priceless. A good rooster sets the model in the chicken coop, as befits an alpha male. Young males, designed for meat, behave calmer with the older male and work out better, the hens do not quarrel and do not share the hierarchy. The rooster vigilantly watches his feathered harem, can drive off a stray dog, encroaching on laying hens or chickens, is able to engage in combat with a hawk or ferret. One can ponder whether chickens lay eggs without a rooster, but there is no doubt one thing: with a rooster the whole chicken family will be better, and the owner will be easier and calmer. Of course, a too aggressive bird, ready to attack the mistress or the child, has a direct road to the soup, but this can be easily corrected. In a purchased batch of bred chickens, as a rule, several males come across, and you can choose the best.
School biology and humanization of chicken
Where do the questions “Can a chicken carry eggs without a rooster come from?”, Yes or no, and why won't there be chickens if there are eggs anyway? As already mentioned, people do not use the knowledge gained in school, if this is not required by their daily lives. But not only this is the reason, you can study at school, but safely skip information by ear. In addition, people traditionally try to humanize all the objects around them - to attribute to them the traits and qualities inherent in people.
The model of the human family is attributed to dogs, cats, hens, too, were no exception. At the heart of the question, “Do chickens lay eggs without a rooster?” lies the error that everything that was born is already a child. Therefore, when it turns out that a chicken egg without the participation of a rooster is just a food product, and not a “miserable unborn chicken”, a person experiences natural bewilderment. It is advisable not to breed myths and not to tell children tearful stories about how mom hens sobbing over children who have already become an omelet. This approach will bring nothing but harm, and chickens will not even sympathize with people, because maternal instinct is present only in hens. An ordinary lay hen doesn’t care what happened to her eggs.