Crazy Chicken Keeper
Songster
I have a Splash Orpington rooster called Bernie some people on here have seen his pic, here it is anyway, a week ago.
As you can see he is big, healthy and in his prime, 2 1/2 years old. My NDE chick, Lazarus, is his son/daughter. Best roo I have ever had, literally twice the size of my head which is about the size of a good coconut. He is good value he had feather-eating mites when I got him but he recovered from that quickly.
Now, a couple days ago, I spotted some blood on his comb. He is the only rooster with the hens the other is with my geese. I caught him (he was very friendly and sat on my shoulder often; how I got the head comparison) and it was a bit dark. I thought maybe he had been in a fight with a hawk or a rat or a possum or some other predator (we were out that day), and had given the predator a hiding, that's happened before to me so I didn't worry much about it. The next day, his comb was darker, not quite purple but not red anymore either. His wattles were still red and he was still acting as normal. I was a bit confused. I thought about posting on here but I didn't which I now regret.
Then there was this morning, late morning early afternoon for folks in America. He looked the same as the night before, still acting as he did, still active and doing his job. We went into town as we always do on a Tuesday (monday for americans) and when i got back I didn't bother checking on him. I came on my laptop, wrote a bit of my book and chatted a bit on here. Then after dinner (very late at night for Americans) I went down to bring him up to show a visitor. I couldn't see him anywhere and assumed he was in his coop. The chooks lay underneath the nesting boxes instead of in them but i checked anyway...
And there on the floor of the coop was Bernie. Dead. He was still slightly warm so he had only died maybe half an hour before? I took his out, and his entire comb was basically purple as well as some of his wattles. I don't have a pic I haven't buried him yet I'll take one tomorrow but imagine the rooster in the picture above with a purple comb. It was quite bloody too.
It is summer here in NZ so it can't be frostbite. He has no wounds or puncture marks which rules out a predator unless predators like drinking the blood on a rooster's comb.
So I need to know why this happened. I have 5 years experience but the closest thing I have ever had to this was when one of my roosters got killed in a rooster fight. Please I need advice!
As you can see he is big, healthy and in his prime, 2 1/2 years old. My NDE chick, Lazarus, is his son/daughter. Best roo I have ever had, literally twice the size of my head which is about the size of a good coconut. He is good value he had feather-eating mites when I got him but he recovered from that quickly.
Now, a couple days ago, I spotted some blood on his comb. He is the only rooster with the hens the other is with my geese. I caught him (he was very friendly and sat on my shoulder often; how I got the head comparison) and it was a bit dark. I thought maybe he had been in a fight with a hawk or a rat or a possum or some other predator (we were out that day), and had given the predator a hiding, that's happened before to me so I didn't worry much about it. The next day, his comb was darker, not quite purple but not red anymore either. His wattles were still red and he was still acting as normal. I was a bit confused. I thought about posting on here but I didn't which I now regret.
Then there was this morning, late morning early afternoon for folks in America. He looked the same as the night before, still acting as he did, still active and doing his job. We went into town as we always do on a Tuesday (monday for americans) and when i got back I didn't bother checking on him. I came on my laptop, wrote a bit of my book and chatted a bit on here. Then after dinner (very late at night for Americans) I went down to bring him up to show a visitor. I couldn't see him anywhere and assumed he was in his coop. The chooks lay underneath the nesting boxes instead of in them but i checked anyway...
And there on the floor of the coop was Bernie. Dead. He was still slightly warm so he had only died maybe half an hour before? I took his out, and his entire comb was basically purple as well as some of his wattles. I don't have a pic I haven't buried him yet I'll take one tomorrow but imagine the rooster in the picture above with a purple comb. It was quite bloody too.
It is summer here in NZ so it can't be frostbite. He has no wounds or puncture marks which rules out a predator unless predators like drinking the blood on a rooster's comb.
So I need to know why this happened. I have 5 years experience but the closest thing I have ever had to this was when one of my roosters got killed in a rooster fight. Please I need advice!
