4 month old, beautiful healthy rooster, died suddenly today!

[fjorddreamer]

Hi,

Not sure if this was the right place to post or not, but just wondered if anyone might have any ideas of what happened. I've got a beautiful flock of 12 Buff Orpingtons that hatched on April 25, so 4 months old this week. I saw the flock two or three times this morning and know that they were all healthy and happy and this is my favourite rooster so I talked to him while I was changing their water. I know there was absolutely nothing wrong with any of the birds as of as late as 11:30 am this morning. At supper time, I went out to check on some new chicks that hatched, in another part of the barn, and just happened to look into the BO coop and there was the rooster sort of on its side, with its legs in the air, eyes closed, pale comb, pale legs, and definitely dead!!! Big, big shock!! There is no sign of illness with any of them. He was definitely fine and crowing and active all morning. There was no predators for sure as they are in a large, enclosed box stall with no run, plus I was in the barn half the day. No change in feed or water or any conditions. Could a rooster that young just die of a heart attack or something?? Or could it have a broken neck from play fighting or something?? Although it didn't appear to have a broken neck or anything. I know sometimes chickens just die for no apparent reason but is it commong for a 16 week old to die so suddenly!!!!???

 

[hinkjc]

Yup, sounds like a defective heart. It is more common in large fowl breeds. I'm so sorry.

 

[dixiechick]

Could be the heart. I suspect that as a first. Could have been a broken neck if rigor mortis set in causing you not to tell. Could be some sort of stress too. Sometimes, you can literally scare these guys to death (hmmm, I musta been a chicken in a previous life!)

So sorry for the loss of you little fella!

 

[Stef in Davis CA]

Sorry to hear about the loss of your cockerel...where I live in California there is a free service to do necropsy on chickens to determine the cause of death...any chance you could get a free or cheap chicken autopsy? There is a small chance something like a poison could have killed him, so knowing it was a heart attack could be helpful.

 

[cochinbantam-lover]

I am so sorry about your little roo, that must have been awful to see him like that!

 

[chickensioux]

So sorry about your roo. Without a necropsy, you will never know. I had a very young hen die suddenly and with a necropsy found that she had a ruptured tumor on her spleen. I too have a service nearby that only charges $5 for a necropsy.
After having chickens for many, many years it's amazing how much you learn over the years and yet they still keep you guessing daily.
Again, so sorry for your loss.

 

[Dazlin]

I'm sorry about the rooster. I had surprises like like, with no explanation. The only question I have...was he near the new chicks that hatched...could have the mother hen attacked him?

 

[fjorddreamer]

Quote:
Hi there,

No, he was four months old....pretty much full grown. He was in with five hens and five other roosters that have all been together since hatched. All buff orpingtons. No problems, no fighting, all very friendly and docile with each other. He was, in fact, the biggest of the roosters and had the largest comb, and was very friendly and lovely. He was the one we had decided we were going to keep for our rooster and was therefore going to keep him with with the five hens when we were moving them into the new coop next week.

All the other birds are still healthy and fine so I don't expect any kind of disease. Especially when he died so very suddenly. He was fine all morning and then a few hours later was dead!!! I'm thinking it must have been something like a heart defect as someone else suggested. Sad, we miss him. Oh well...as long as the rest are fine. We've been very, very pleased with that flock of birds.

Thanks for asking! Thanks also so those others that posted.