Chicken randomly dropped dead?

[ninjascrub69]

This morning i went out to the coop to feed and water the chickens and my minorca cockerel was laying on the floor, dead. What could have caused this? Could it have been a disease, and if so what disease could it be? My dominant rooster had a little bit of blood (im assuming it was blood) on his neck feathers, but the minorca didnt have any apparent injuries.

Edited to add: He was acting normal before he died, and his poo was normal also.

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

That is a hard way to start the day

Sometimes we never know why or what happened. Could have been a sudden heart problem, or maybe he hit his head at sometime during the night (night fright and flew into something)

I had a bantam cochin who passed away within 2 hours of opening the coop for the morning. She had run out, eaten and gotten a drink like normal, had been out free ranging and wandered back to the run - where I found her laid out like she was sunbathing but she had passed away.

 

[mypicklebird]

Not enough info there to give you much of a guess. Imagine finding a dog/cat/random animal lying dead on the lawn- no obvious cause death- there are 100s of things that could have happened. Detective work must be done.
Start with close inspection of the bird- you may find something.
Many causes of death possible- severe parasites, head trauma, predator, tumors, heart issue, really hot infectious agent, poison/toxin ect
Some of these things you can rule out with a very careful inspection of the bird. Some you can rule out by doing a home necropsy. To detect some- you would need to get a lab involved- professional necropsy. If you still have the bird, check into whether you have a state lab that takes poultry. Some have low cost or free service for 'food' animals.


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