No, you don't need a rooster.

The rest depends on the breed, the feed, and the season. Look up some basic chicken info sites.

Christy,
A rooster is only needed if you want fertilized eggs and chicks. Otherwise, a rooster is superfluous, but delicious.
We have six Australorps, big hens with sweet dispositions and very good layers. There is really no typical hen--some lay more eggs, some lay colored eggs (Americaunas lay green or blue eggs, but not lots and lots of them), some are more meat breeds. You need to get a breed that will withstand the heat/cold of your region. There is a good chicken website, Backyard Chickens. Google it and you'll get a lot of good information.

Yeah, no roo needed to get eggs, only if you want fertilized eggs for hatching. But a lot of people feel that a roo completes the flock, and it's pretty cool watching a roo tend his ladies, taking them around to nests, finding goodies and calling them to it... :)

A hen will start to lay eggs around the age of 6 months, and will on average lay an egg every other day or so from then until about the age of 6-7 years, give or take. Egg laying peaks by the age of two and slowly tapers off. Hens, like humans, have a finite number of eggs in their bodies that they are born with.

Heck, I have some older hens who still come into lay every Spring and lay an egg or two here and there, and they are between 6 and 9 years old!

There are no stupid questions, everyone was a beginner once. :) I've got a chicken info site here that may help:

http://jackshenhouse.com/

Velvet ~:>