I’ve had a few people ask me now if it’s a necessity to have a cockerel for a hen to produce eggs. The simple answer is no, a hen will naturally lay an egg roughly once a day (this time frame will change depending on the breed of hen). A hen is hatched with all the eggs they will ever lay inside them. At about 6 months old the hen will start to lay. The process is that a mature yolk then enters the tunnel, the egg then moves through the oviduct, it’s at this point when the cockerel would fertilise the egg. The yolk is then covered in its white and protective fibres. Further through the process the shell is formed to protect the egg. The egg is then released through the vent which is also shared by the intestine. The egg is laid and the process starts over again.
You only need a cockerel if you’re wanting to breed from the hens.
