Found a strange dead rooster in yard today

[EggWalrus]

Found a strange rooster dead in the yard today. Definitely not one of my birds. Weird thing is it was missing an eye (but looked like the socket had healed). I had one like it missing an eye but quit hearing it crowing back in the swamp over a year ago. I also let the dog out of the chicken yard to give him a break from chicken watching duty today. The only thing I can think of is he got the dead rooster from out of the creek and brought it up into the back yard. No signs of a violent attack, just a dead rooster.

WTH?

 

[EggWalrus]

Do you think the roster that disappeared well over a year ago could have came back and had stopped crowing till he died of old age?

 

[glassdragonfly]

IDK,but strange, My stepson had a roo go missing for months,then it showed back up. That summer the road crew was working nearby and the guys were feeding the chickens,so we think someone took some then ended up with a roo they couldn't keep.

 

[EggWalrus]

IDK,but strange, My stepson had a roo go missing for months,then it showed back up. That summer the road crew was working nearby and the guys were feeding the chickens,so we think someone took some then ended up with a roo they couldn't keep.

I think it was over 2 years ago that the other roosters kept on kicking his tail till they drove him across the creek and back into the swamp. For nearly a year I would hear him crowing over there and even saw him occasionally. He came back just long enough to get/lure some girls across the creek to stay with him. Then about 8-9 months later I quit hearing him and the girls came back. I don't think it was him but who knows?

 

[hayley3]

You let the dog out you said....so your dog is chicken friendly?

 

[centrarchid]

I have had dead chickens show up in yard. My dogs appear involved. Most were chickens of neighbor killed by fox. Fox cached chickens it killed a couple hundred yards from neighbors and property. My dogs then rob the caches.

Most recent example a little different because chicken sourced from much farther away. That neighbors flock decimated by fox; multiple times and they still keeping chickens in same manner. Apparently, fox took chicken and came our way where dogs mugged it. Dogs deposit booty in yard.

 

[glassdragonfly]

I think it was over 2 years ago that the other roosters kept on kicking his tail till they drove him across the creek and back into the swamp. For nearly a year I would hear him crowing over there and even saw him occasionally. He came back just long enough to get/lure some girls across the creek to stay with him. Then about 8-9 months later I quit hearing him and the girls came back. I don't think it was him but who knows?

Might have been one of his sons if the girls hatched any chicks. Weird things happen with chickens

 

[CatWhisperer]

I would be concerned dead rooster may have been diseased. Hope your flock wasn’t overly exposed.

 

[centrarchid]

I would be concerned dead rooster may have been diseased. Hope your flock wasn’t overly exposed.

If the OP's chickens already free-range outside, then there a limits to biosecurity measures such that the dead rooster is not the biggest risk. Bigger risk is songbirds flying directly between flocks that might be miles apart.

 

[EggWalrus]

You let the dog out you said....so your dog is chicken friendly?

Oh yeah!
Buddy loves his chickens! He lives with them, I think that he thinks he is a chicken sometimes. He's about 8-9 month old Great Pyrenees puppy that weighs over 100 lbs already. He shares his food with them and he'll lay down and let them rest on top of him too. He licks them and even tried to pet them with his paws, but as big as he is he doesn't realize he can hurt them easily. I've nearly broke him of that habit. And he is keeping all the predators ran off. Since he started hiking his leg, he's gotten really protective of his birds. He dragged a 40 lbs beaver up out of the creek not long ago. I have to remember now and then that even as big as he is, he's still a puppy and only has the brain of about a 5 yo child.