So I came out this morning to let all my chickens out of the coop. Everyone is always super excited at this team because it also means food But it's especially exciting for my rooster because it means he gets to chase down his favorite hen of the morning While changing their water the rooster was "getting busy" and all of a sudden he just fell over, rolled off the hen and stayed there. I waited a second for him to get up and walk off, but he didn't Everyone looks healthy as far as I can tell? Am I missing something or should I be concerned for the rest of my flock. I'm devastated right now
im sorry to hear I hope this link will help It's in heart attacks http://www.mypetchicken.com/backyard-chickens/chicken-help/Heart-attack-overview-H258.aspx
Heart attacks do happen. Ultimately you can't be sure unless you had a necropsy done on this bird. He could have had something else brewing deep inside. Comb color can sometimes be an indicator and sometimes not. Sometimes they will have purple combs long before heart attacks and sometimes the comb stays a bright red even though the bird has heart failure developing. I just dealt with a string of birds dying from arterial hypertension and heart failure...most of them had bright red combs right up to the end, a few had purple combs on and off months prior to their death. I am so sorry you lost him.
Thank you everyone. His comb was normally just red, but turned color when he passed. I just recently switched everyone to a different all organic feed... hopefully that wasn't it. They are free range all day and not normally stressed :/ in fact, they are quite spoiled. I think I'll just wait to see if we have any further issues and if (hopefully not) I have another loss we'll do a necropsy. Thank you again everyone.
