I will be curious to see what those with a little more knowledge about these things say, if they think he possibly sick or what. What I've noticed in my roosters...I have a 3 1/2 yr-old Iowa Blue and his offspring from last spring. My older guy started out thinking about NOTHING other than what roosters think about;) That first year he did nothing but pester the hens. As he's matured, he has really turned out to be a very good protector/provider. Quite a gentleman, actually. He still takes his liberties but he will fess up roost space, food, treats, etc, for the girls. I've noticed him on the floor of the coop several times when I go out at night to close them up. First come, first serve since I don't have quite enough (prime) roost space for everyone. I guess what I'm asking is maybe he wants up but is letting the girls go first? If he's eating and drinking and you've checked him over, seems like a possibility. Someone may shoot that idea down, though. Hopefully you don't have a sick guy on your hands but a nice rooster? Lori

That's an interesting thought, but right now I don't have too many hens left and there's quite a bit of room on the roost, so I don't think it's because he's being a gentleman. I tried setting him up on the lowermost roost and he climbed up to his usual perch on the topmost one by himself, so I guess he's just having difficulty getting up on the first one? It's perhaps 1 1/2 to 2 feet off the ground, a bit less than that with all the straw underneath. During the day he seems to be acting no different than usual. I'm not sure what's wrong with him but my brother wants to do away with him and get a new roo from our neighbor. I'm inclined to agree right now since he seems to be on his way out but we can't find what's wrong with him. Here's to hoping someone with more knowledge on these things will give us an answer! :)