Fun Facts

Rooster

If you own a chicken farm do you have to have a rooster? If you want chicks then yes, if you just want eggs then no. Roosters are the proud male chicken with brightly colored plumage and ornate tail feathers who is known for his loud and annoying cock-a doddle-doo crow to start the day. The male have long tail feathers, a large comb and wattles and large spurs on the back of their legs, while female’s feathers are round.

Do chickens need a rooster to lay eggs? No for a chicken lays an egg every 28 hours which is unfertilized and a baby chick will never be in that egg, for those are the ones we eat, but they look the same as a fertilized egg. To fertilize an egg the hen crouches down so the rooster can mount her where their posterior orifices the cloaca touch and the sperm enters her. The hen is not pregnant for she stores the sperm in her oviduct and as her egg leaves the ovary the sperm joins the egg and it is fertilized. The sperm is stored for weeks and if it runs out then the eggs she lays will be unfertilized.

The main job of of the rooster besides making baby chicks is to protect the flock roaming the perimeter of their range crowing to communicate his dominance and to warn of danger. The crow of the rooster is loud about 142 decibels while a chain saw is 120 so to protect the rooster from long exposure to that racket when his beak is fully open the ear canals close to prevent deafness. (C. Boeckmann)