Every year I hatch out around 40 to 45 chicks. Some years I have several more cockerels than pullets, some years more pullets than cockerels. They all range together with the adult flock until butcher age for the cockerels, target about 23 weeks except for the one I might keep as my flock rooster when he grows up. The pullets usually stick around to 8 months after I've picked which I want to keep for my laying/breeding flock. I went through that to show I have some experience with it.
Some of these chicks might hatch in February, some as late as July. They are not all the same age, usually four or five different age groups. Some are brooder-raised, my brooder is in the coop so they grow up with the flock. Some are broody-raised, they are raised with the flock from Day 1. I have a lot of room, three different coops/shelters they can sleep in and even when it is crowded they have over 50 square feet of room per chicken outside. I have weather that they can pretty much be outside all day every day. My general philosophy with integration and raising chickens is that as long as no one gets hurt they are doing OK. I think those are most of the relevant parts of the puzzle. I'm sure your situation is very different.
Each year is different. About every three or four years it gets rough enough that I separate out several cockerels and isolate them until they get to butcher age. That's not because of the boys fighting among themselves but how rough they are on the pullets. Interestingly some of these years I have more pullets than cockerels. That's part of why I don't believe in magic ratios for girls to boys. I think having a lot of room makes it better.
What you are seeing is the boys going through puberty. The boys tend to do that before the girls do. The hormones are driving those boys to dominate. At that age the mating act is about dominance, not about fertilizing the eggs. Typically, there are no eggs, the girls are not laying. The one on bottom is accepting the dominance of the one on top, either willingly or by force. At that age it is practically always by force as you describe.
There is an hierarchy among the boys. They decide which one is boss and which are not. That can change as they mature and is a typical cause of fighting. But the one or two on top usually suppresses the behavior of the less-dominant boys. It makes it hard to choose which is the best cockerel to keep because their behaviors can changed if you remove a cockerel that outranks them.
You have four boys, I have no idea how many girls but I don't consider it that important. What are your goals for having a boy? The only reason you need one is if you want fertile eggs. Everything else is personal preference. Nothing wrong with personal preference, I have a few myself. But those are wants, not needs. You mentioned protective behaviors. There are all girl flocks where the dominant hen takes over those duties. Some are better than others but some roosters are better than others.
My general suggestion is to keep as few boys as you can and meet your goals. That's not because you are guaranteed problems with more roosters, but that problems are more likely the more you keep.
I try to solve for the peace of the flock. If any chicken, male or female, is disrupting the flock they are gone. I consider the cockerels chasing down the girls as part of juveniles going through puberty. That's just chickens being chickens. But as I said every few years it gets too rough for even me. You said some were tag-teaming. I almost never see that behavior but that would be reason for me to get rid of at least one of them. Immediately.
Your question was
Just trying to figure out if they'll be more respectful of the ladies once the ladies are receptive or not.
Watching chickens, boy and girls, go through puberty can be rough on the faint of heart. It's not pretty and can be pretty violent. They can get hurt. Mine generally don't but it is violent. I don't recall a pullet every being injured by forced mating but it can happen. That can happen if you only keep one boy. The injuries I'm more familiar with are from the cockerels fighting among themselves.
If you can get through puberty to where they start acting like adults it generally calms down to a pretty peaceful flock. With the girls that's generally around when they start to lay. With the boys that can be anywhere from 5 months (really really rare that young) to even a year. Mine cockerels typically get there around 7 to 8 months of age. If you can get to that point you should be OK but it is hard for some to get to that point.
Sometimes the boys learn to work together to protect the flock, sometimes they fight to the death to become the flock master. I think how much room you have is critical. Often the agreement they reach is that they claim a certain territory out of sight of each other and the girls decide which harem they want to be in. If you have that kind of room you probably have a pretty good chance on keeping another boy or maybe even two. Even if you have less they might work it out but the tighter the room the less likely it is. Have a plan ready if it is needed.
Something that I think helps your odds a little is if they are raised together, either as siblings or father-son. It doesn't help a lot, they can still get pretty violent, but it can help.
I don't know your goals or your set-up or anything else but my feeling is that the right number for you is more likely to be 0 or 1 than it is to be 2.
