Should my rooster be “roosting”?

[deviflux]

Thanks again everyone for the input!

Quick update: My little man finally figured it out and is roosting with his ladies for the first time tonight. He’s my first roo and is becoming quite the little gentleman.

 

[WhiteCollarWeezy]

That's great. Reading this thread I wonder if your hens may have "hazed" him, to see if he was worthy??? If my hens think they can stand up to a new roo they will. And I've watched a couple young boys get whooped by a dominant hen. Post pic if ya can.

 

[Liberty-Chicken]

We put a young rooster of ours into a coop of older hens and they peck him all the time. When I look into the coop, I see his fluffy little butt sticking out from the corner. I feel really bad for him

 

[deviflux]

That's great. Reading this thread I wonder if your hens may have "hazed" him, to see if he was worthy??? If my hens think they can stand up to a new roo they will. And I've watched a couple young boys get whooped by a dominant hen. Post pic if ya can.

Here’s my guy, Waylon Jennings. My best guess is he’s still not used to his size and struggles a bit to get up to the roost. I added a short cinderblock “step” and I’m wondering if that was enough of a boost to help.

 

[Jojosine]

They’ve got 2x4s with the edges sanded down so they’re rounded.

Some chickens don't like rounded roosts, we had trouble getting some of them perching on very round roosts and when we replaced the roosts with square ones with just the edges rounded all of them starting sleeping on these.
By the way, our rooster sleeps in front of the entrance on a perch in with girls on either side of him. The girls' bodies also stops his crowing sounds to travel too far, which is a nice benefit!