Buff Orpington rooster found dead suddenly on his back, with blood coming from mouth??

[kai1006]

Hey all. Just 20 minutes ago I walked outside mid-day to all of my flocks alarm calling. I quickly ended up finding one of my bachelor flock boys, a 2 year also Buff Orpington rooster, dead on his back, with blood flowing from his mouth. I immediately went to see what happened and couldn't find anything to lead me on. All of the other birds where clean, aside from a little bit of blood on the back of one of the other roosters.
After a bit of time taking in what just happened, I went and told my family, we looked around and found barely anything of interest. A few thick blood splatters in a few odd places, such as up on a perching ladder (of which the buff orpingtons never use), in the water bowl, and of course around where I found the body. No tears in the netting on top, no blood on the chainlink fencing (the coop is made of chainlink fences and a garden net on top), no nothing. We are so absolutely clueless how this happened.
Nothing seemed off about him before hand and he most likely recently died by the time I got out there, as his body wasn't stiff yet. This bachelor flock has gotten along nearly perfectly for over a year now; and as I stated before there's no blood on any other rooster. The flock consists of (previously) to buff orpingtons, for silkies, three ayam cemanis, and more recently, a leghorn-mix and a beltsville small white turkey. All of them are male.
Buffy (the orpington in question) has been dominant over the new additions, and has always been a peacekeeper. And due to his unwillingness to keep a fight going, there were practically no fights occurring, And even if they were he would win with little to no damage taken. The only other noteworthy thing is that we recently (about a week ago) lost two silkie hens to a peregrine falcon, but they where free-ranging and we found no sign of a way it could get in to kill. Please help us figure out how he died, we are at such a complete loss.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

If a predator can be ruled out, my guess is that your rooster may have been killed during a skirmish with another rooster. I've raised a fair number of roosters (of different breeds) and find that the potential for unexpected violence among them is ever present, even if they seem to get along.

The blood splatter you described would fit a scenario where the rooster was engaging with another (or more). It's possible that the conflict was to restructure the hierarchy and, unfortunately, he was displaced. A mellow rooster is a boon to human keepers, but that laid-back personality can be a disadvantage when it comes to flock dynamics. Sorry for your loss.

 

[kai1006]

If a predator can be ruled out, my guess is that your rooster may have been killed during a skirmish with another rooster. I've raised a fair number of roosters (of different breeds) and find that the potential for unexpected violence among them is ever present, even if they seem to get along.

The blood splatter you described would fit a scenario where the rooster was engaging with another (or more). It's possible that the conflict was to restructure the hierarchy and, unfortunately, he was displaced. A mellow rooster is a boon to human keepers, but that laid-back personality can be a disadvantage when it comes to flock dynamics. Sorry for your loss.

Thank you for your response. We talked to our vet and he said it sounded like gapeworm to him. So we're going to treat for that obviously. But I really don't think it was another rooster. My brother and I have thoroughly inspected the body and the other roos and there's absolutely no sign of fighting. This particular buff actually bloodied up the new rooster the other day, with little no injuries to himself. But like I said, there's absolutely no sign of fighting, his comb and wattles are clean and has no sign of puncture wounds from spurs. I literally only found him with a mouth full of blood, on his back. My mom had also been outside about 10-20 mins prior and didn't hear/see them fighting. So yeah... Like I said, we're treating for gape worms because this is the vet's suspicion, but I'm still open to hear what others have to say because I want to be prepared for anything. Thanks again!

 

[Aapomp831]

I highly doubt it’s gapeworm - gapeworm is extremely rare in the US. I agree with FoodFreedom, it sounds like a rooster fight that ended with internal bleeding. Even if it seems unlikely bc the Roos were getting along, it doesn’t take much for hormones to kick in and a bloodbath to ensue. I would hesitate to treat your flock for gapeworm ; that diagnosis doesn’t make much sense to me.

 

[BYC910]

Thank you for your response. We talked to our vet and he said it sounded like gapeworm to him. So we're going to treat for that obviously. But I really don't think it was another rooster. My brother and I have thoroughly inspected the body and the other roos and there's absolutely no sign of fighting. This particular buff actually bloodied up the new rooster the other day, with little no injuries to himself. But like I said, there's absolutely no sign of fighting, his comb and wattles are clean and has no sign of puncture wounds from spurs. I literally only found him with a mouth full of blood, on his back. My mom had also been outside about 10-20 mins prior and didn't hear/see them fighting. So yeah... Like I said, we're treating for gape worms because this is the vet's suspicion, but I'm still open to hear what others have to say because I want to be prepared for anything. Thanks again!

Signs of grape worms? That bad of an infestation would almost surely have the chicken in distress. I know this may not be relevant but once had barred rock that killed two others without leaving any sign .His dimize came when he charged me ,hit the fence broke his own neck .I too suspect another chicken took him out .

 

[HENS-and-MARES]

I highly doubt it’s gapeworm - gapeworm is extremely rare in the US. I agree with FoodFreedom, it sounds like a rooster fight that ended with internal bleeding. Even if it seems unlikely bc the Roos were getting along, it doesn’t take much for hormones to kick in and a bloodbath to ensue. I would hesitate to treat your flock for gapeworm ; that diagnosis doesn’t make much sense to me.

It would appear everyone seems to be ignoring that they said that the roosters had no blood.