Do chickens lay eggs and then the eggs are fertilized by the male or do chickens mate to fertilize the eggs?
Roosters have nothing to do with egg-laying. Hens lay eggs no matter what. (When they are 6 months or older) Roosters do play a part in baby chicks though. If a hen doesn’t mate with a rooster then the egg will just be an egg, and could never possibly be a baby chick. If a rooster mates with the hen, the egg the hen lays can be incubated or sat on, and it will hatch. Only when a rooster mates with a hen is there a baby chick in the egg the hen lays.
