I'm pro rooster. My boys have saved the hens many times. One even self-sacrificed, but survived the attack. He was a white bantam silkie. I came home to a groshawk in the driveway wondering what happened to his dinner! He flew away. I found the big rooster had taken the hens into the henhouse and was acting sentry at their drop door. There were white feathers all about the run, but no Whitie. An outside the run walk-around found him about 10' outside the perimeter. I feared the worst. He was limp and was missing a great lot of fluff, but began to stir as I held him in the safe position. He lived many more years. The two roosters worked well together in tandem for several years. 18 to 24 hens on average and no aggressive fighting.