Answer: hens don't need cocks to lay eggs.
Female mammals need to mate with male mammals to reproduce, while birds can lay eggs without mating.
Therefore, hens do not need cocks to lay eggs simply, but if they want to hatch the kind of "breeding eggs" of chicks, the hens must be raised together with the cocks, because the cocks should "step on the essence" for the hens, that is, the so-called sperm eggs. Of course, now artificial insemination can also be used to make hens lay eggs with sperm.
However, if the hen does not find a cock to mate, the eggs are sperm free eggs, which can not hatch chicks and can only be used for human consumption. Therefore, if the chicken farm keeps laying hens and not breeding chickens, such hens do not need to mate.
Eggs before fertilization are called azoospermic eggs, which cannot hatch chickens. The egg after mating is not necessarily a fertilized egg. If the egg cannot be fertilized or the time is inconsistent due to pathological reasons, the egg is about to be laid down. At this time, the egg can not hatch a chick.
Only mating and successful completion of fertilized eggs are useful and can hatch chicks.