Cockerel died overnight

Lumikko

Songster
Sep 14, 2019
230
318
171
Wayne, NJ
Good morning all. I'm looking to see if I can work out the why. I went out to the coop this morning to let my trio of 9 week buff orpingtons out and didn't hear the usual minor morning chaos and no one popped out of the door. Ran around to the other side and found the cockerel dead on the bottom of the coop and the two girls sitting on the roost bars. Everyone has been acting completely normal. No signs anyone was sick. I have a camera in a coop and watched the playback. I can't work out exactly what happened but I looks like he fell and injured his neck. I feel awful. I think I need to move the roost bar closer to the center? The nesting box is currently boarded up because they aren't laying age yet but I may unboard that too so there isn't a wall behind the roost bar? I've uploaded a video, it isn't nice to watch but I could do with some advice. Thank you. I'm devastated and want to make sure nothing like this happens again.

 
my girls sometimes get kicked off the roosts I watch this happen but none are hurt. I might give the coop a check an try to prevent this if it ever happens to me.
 
my girls sometimes get kicked off the roosts I watch this happen but none are hurt. I might give the coop a check an try to prevent this if it ever happens to me.
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to work out. I'm not sure what I need to change to make it safer. :(
 
Oh no :( That was awful to watch. Poor little guy. My brooder coop from the inside looks just like this, roost and all, and I raised seven pullets who roosted with no issue. It looks like he hit underneath his chin which tipped his head back too far and I feel like that could happen on nearly any roost setup. You could perhaps make the roosts wider for better grip (try zip tying a pool noodle over it), but I think this was just a stroke of bad luck. I hate this for you :(
 
Yeah, that's what I'm trying to work out. I'm not sure what I need to change to make it safer. :(
I had there roost a dowel because there almost 3 months but we changed it to 2 thick pieces of wood to make it bigger, thicker, and longer. The dowel was getting too small and kicking everyone off. So far they haven't fallen from what I see.
 

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