I have always had cockerels running with my hens. Never had a problem with egg numbers. But this year, its been a poor do regarding eggs, and most disappointing. Not sure what it is, but as cockerels have not been a problem before, can't see why it should be this year.
Just noticed that this board has let you type the word "cock" in your title> A lot of forums this word is censored so you have to type cockerel instead!!