There are many advantages to having a rooster but the only reason you NEED a rooster is if you would like your eggs fertilized for chick production. But choosing to have a rooster has many advantages. Having one rooster in a smaller flock can be extremely advantageous. Firstly, our rooster, Sylvester (aka Sly) does everything he can to protect his hens. He makes various noises to warn the hens to run inside their coop if he hears or sees another animal around. We find he then sits at the coop door with the hens waiting behind him for him to give them the go ahead.
Secondly, he does a great job at ensuring that our hens do not fight. He has broken up fights when the ladies are getting annoyed with one another. We have been told that without a rooster a head hen can take on this position but this is not something we have any experience with.
Interestingly, we have also found that our big guy even show hens where to lay when they have decided not to lay in their nesting box. Sly will go to a box and go in and out of it several times right after a hen has laid outside of the boxes.
In contrast, there are several disadvantages that can arise when a rooster(s) is added to the flock. It’s extremely important to ensure that you do not have too many roosters for the number of hens. If you end up with too many roosters they are likely to fight over hens and they can even fight to death. In addition, you will find that the roosters will mount the same hens too much resulting in bare backs and feather loss in the hens. As you have read above, there are definitely pros and cons to having a rooster and each situation will be different.