Kicked my Rooster! And now he is dead!

[BastyPutt]

I have been keeping chickens for well over a decade, and typically like to post on here when something peculiar happens.

We have (had) a Polish Roo, as well as a barnyard mix too that we hatched with him a year ago and 50 hens. They are never aggressive toward us anymore, but are toward our friends or family who come over .... which is fine (especially my in-laws) we also have a 9 year old lavender Orpington Roo, who was our first Roo and charmed me enough every year to not get mixed in with the broilers. He is coming up to his last days, but still walks the range daily.

However, today the two were fighting and as usual, I stepped between them. The much larger barnyard mix ran while the Polish stayed behind to take a few blows at me. Typically and with past roos I'll kick them with the side of my foot in the chest or wherever my foot lands in their fury - not even close to full power, but enough to scare them. It usually causes them to go 1/2 a body length backward. I had done this to both of these guys when they were younger, which told them typically not to mess with me - and also to the countless Roos I have had in the past.

But today, the outcome was much different than ever before. Once he was off my chest, he went for my legs a few times and then bam, I kicked him. He jumped back, took a few steps toward me again with his hackles raised, then collapsed and died instantly at my feet. Obviously, he is more of a token rooster than anything else, so it was pretty sad because he was so laughable all the time, but I stood there in absolutely shock. I thought he was knocked out or something so I waited almost 2 hours before moving him, but no - dead as dead can be.

Anyway, I have no idea what the cause of death was, his neck was intact, and breast bone felt just fine. Has anyone had any experience with any kind of blunt force trauma related to chickens? I'm very familiar with the anatomy of chicken from butchering, and feel like the heart is almost in an indestructible spot.

I've changed his name post-humorously to DamaRoo Hamlin.

Matt

 

[coach723]

I'm sorry for your loss. There's really no way to know unless you were to necropsy him, and even then it might not be determined for sure. He could have had a heart attack. It's possible to scare them to death, literally, so maybe the stress of the situation and then the surprise of the response was enough. There was recently a story about a man in china sentenced to 6 months in prison for scaring 1100 chickens to death with a flashlight (a feud between neighbors). And they can die from stress after a predator attack. It happens.

 

[BastyPutt]

Well, we processed him mainly to see if I can find what was wrong. There wasn't much meat there to eat, and even so - it is one thing to eat the broilers whose intention is to be eaten - but another to eat a pet.

Anyway, he has (had) a MASSIVE heart. Maybe triple the size of the broilers we usually process. I haven't looked much up, but I'd say he has some kind of degenerative heart defect that may have had something to do with it. Suppose I'll ask again, any experience with this?

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

That sounds awful. If his heart was that big, maybe he just literally had a heart attack? That seems like the best answer. I’ve “kicked” my rooster before, not hard, just enough to stop his movement. And he hasn’t dropped dead. Very odd.

 

[BastyPutt]

Yeah that sounds like a definite possibility and my conclusion as well.

I'll tell you what, I will never kick one again. I typically don't get too attached to the roosters, but this one has me in the dumps today - unexpectedly. He was a fun little guy.

 

[coach723]

I raised one bird, purchased chick, laying hen pullet that I suspected had a heart problem early on. Almost lost her the first week, she pulled through but was never quite right. She died suddenly at about 20 weeks. When I opened her up her heart was as big as my fist. It literally took up her entire chest cavity and was really pushing against the ribs, just enormous, I don't know how she even lived that long. So I assumed a congenital defect. These things are why it's always a good idea to look when you lose a bird unexpectedly. Sometimes it's quite interesting and they can teach you a lot. I'm always a little sad, but feel like if they teach me something then it wasn't in vain, they may help another one down the road.

 

[BastyPutt]

I raised one bird, purchased chick, laying hen pullet that I suspected had a heart problem early on. Almost lost her the first week, she pulled through but was never quite right. She died suddenly at about 20 weeks. When I opened her up her heart was as big as my fist. It literally took up her entire chest cavity and was really pushing against the ribs, just enormous, I don't know how she even lived that long. So I assumed a congenital defect. These things are why it's always a good idea to look when you lose a bird unexpectedly. Sometimes it's quite interesting and they can teach you a lot. I'm always a little sad, but feel like if they teach me something then it wasn't in vain, they may help another one down the road.

Thank you for this.

 

[Henschickspups]

I'm sorry for your loss. There's really no way to know unless you were to necropsy him, and even then it might not be determined for sure. He could have had a heart attack. It's possible to scare them to death, literally, so maybe the stress of the situation and then the surprise of the response was enough. There was recently a story about a man in china sentenced to 6 months in prison for scaring 1100 chickens to death with a flashlight (a feud between neighbors). And they can die from stress after a predator attack. It happens.

I'm sorry for hijacking the thread here, but... how on earth did he scare them to death with a flashlight? I always feel bad disturbing mine if I need to check on them in the middle of the night, and definitely don't want to kill them

 

[JackVinehopper]

It sounds like he was a walking time bomb for a heart attack. If it wasn't you it would have been something else soon. You were just at the wrong place at the wrong time providing the perfect storm for him that day. Sorry for your loss. I had a rooster die of fear and stress when the irrigation canal next to us was dredging them with a big back hoe not more than 20 feet from the coop. He must have thought that monster was going to kill him and his flock. He was walking around with droopy wings, tail and listless. An hour later he was dead.

 

[HorseGirlAbby]

I'm sorry for hijacking the thread here, but... how on earth did he scare them to death with a flashlight? I always feel bad disturbing mine if I need to check on them in the middle of the night, and definitely don't want to kill them

Yeah, that’s what I want to know too. I go out and check on my chickens every night after they go to bed, with a flashlight. Not once has anyone died from me doing that. I’ve startled them, of course, and made them make noise, but never killed any of them. I’m gonna be petrified every time I go out there at night now…