4kids4me
In the Brooder
- Jun 3, 2017
- 2
- 1
- 17
We lost our 4 (ish) month old RIR rooster early this morning. My main concern now is that we don't have worries about the remaining hens that were with him. Here are details from the last few days:
Friday night we had a bad storm brew up. The whole flock went in early and stayed in after the storm. Saturday morning when I went to let them out, no one seemed eager to venture out. Like they were spooked or something. Benny (rooster) is always the first out, but he held back until several of the hens came down. And they all were a bit "odd" acting all morning. We let them out about lunch to free range and everyone at that point seemed back to their old selves.
Saturday we moved their coop about 100-200 feet from where it had been to the new fenced in "chicken yard" my husband built. Everything stayed the same in the coop as well as the basic angle in the yard. We did not replace the wood chips & mulch in the run because we specifically were moving it to an area with better drain off and wanted to assess before we decided on what covering to go with. Outside of that, everything in the coop & run was the same. We let them venture out a bit, but it was nearing dusk when we completed the project so they were happy to go on up to roost before too long.
Sunday, I went out to let them out of the coop & also let them into the larger chicken yard for exploration. They were hesitant but seemed happy to slowly make their way out a bit and then back into the "normal confines" they had been used to. About lunch time, I went out to visit and see how they were getting on in their new area & noticed our rooster was dozing in the sun. I went to pet him and he perked up and ran off with the ladies but before too much longer, I found him dozing again. I picked him up and he was breathing heavier than normal. Not panting like he was hot (although he was in the sun and it was hot), more like he was trying to take in large amounts of air in each breath. I did an inspection (although as we are new to chickens, I wasn't sure just what to look for) and he seemed to be fine in the crop and belly area and he didn't seem warm or raspy. I placed him near the water and he drank and ate a few bugs with his girls and pecked around for a good while. Dusk came and we put everyone back up for the night.
Today, went to open coop and no one came out - for a good 30-45 sec until I had time to back all the way back out from the small run area and set the door so it would stay open for them to be free all day. So, I went to back where the nesting boxes are and opened the door and there all 5 of my hens were on the roost bars looking at me but not making a venture towards the opening. Instead, Rosie (Benny's favorite hen) began clucking at me like something was wrong and sure enough, Benny was dead on the floor of the coop to the side of the nest boxes. He still felt warm under his wings, so it had to have been in the last couple hrs before I went out I believe.
Everyone else is acting normal, no signs of sickness, but he didn't really act sick until yesterday afternoon with the heavy breathing? No changes in food, water, etc. Everything gets cleaned on a regular basis. Can anyone tell me what it might be and if I have a high chance of the others getting something? We did clean out the coop and roosting area today just in case since he died in there last night. The kids are worried about the others (especially my son as Benny was his and Rosie is as well and they were like twins always together). I just want to know if I need to pre-treat for something? They had been vaccinated when we got them at about 8 wks the end of May. Is there something we need to be doing that we have not already done? Thanks!
Friday night we had a bad storm brew up. The whole flock went in early and stayed in after the storm. Saturday morning when I went to let them out, no one seemed eager to venture out. Like they were spooked or something. Benny (rooster) is always the first out, but he held back until several of the hens came down. And they all were a bit "odd" acting all morning. We let them out about lunch to free range and everyone at that point seemed back to their old selves.
Saturday we moved their coop about 100-200 feet from where it had been to the new fenced in "chicken yard" my husband built. Everything stayed the same in the coop as well as the basic angle in the yard. We did not replace the wood chips & mulch in the run because we specifically were moving it to an area with better drain off and wanted to assess before we decided on what covering to go with. Outside of that, everything in the coop & run was the same. We let them venture out a bit, but it was nearing dusk when we completed the project so they were happy to go on up to roost before too long.
Sunday, I went out to let them out of the coop & also let them into the larger chicken yard for exploration. They were hesitant but seemed happy to slowly make their way out a bit and then back into the "normal confines" they had been used to. About lunch time, I went out to visit and see how they were getting on in their new area & noticed our rooster was dozing in the sun. I went to pet him and he perked up and ran off with the ladies but before too much longer, I found him dozing again. I picked him up and he was breathing heavier than normal. Not panting like he was hot (although he was in the sun and it was hot), more like he was trying to take in large amounts of air in each breath. I did an inspection (although as we are new to chickens, I wasn't sure just what to look for) and he seemed to be fine in the crop and belly area and he didn't seem warm or raspy. I placed him near the water and he drank and ate a few bugs with his girls and pecked around for a good while. Dusk came and we put everyone back up for the night.
Today, went to open coop and no one came out - for a good 30-45 sec until I had time to back all the way back out from the small run area and set the door so it would stay open for them to be free all day. So, I went to back where the nesting boxes are and opened the door and there all 5 of my hens were on the roost bars looking at me but not making a venture towards the opening. Instead, Rosie (Benny's favorite hen) began clucking at me like something was wrong and sure enough, Benny was dead on the floor of the coop to the side of the nest boxes. He still felt warm under his wings, so it had to have been in the last couple hrs before I went out I believe.
Everyone else is acting normal, no signs of sickness, but he didn't really act sick until yesterday afternoon with the heavy breathing? No changes in food, water, etc. Everything gets cleaned on a regular basis. Can anyone tell me what it might be and if I have a high chance of the others getting something? We did clean out the coop and roosting area today just in case since he died in there last night. The kids are worried about the others (especially my son as Benny was his and Rosie is as well and they were like twins always together). I just want to know if I need to pre-treat for something? They had been vaccinated when we got them at about 8 wks the end of May. Is there something we need to be doing that we have not already done? Thanks!
