TropicalChick
Chirping
- Aug 19, 2018
- 21
- 64
- 91
This attached pic wasnt my rooster, but mine looked just like this one. He just started crowing about 3 months ago. I had him about maybe 6 months - at first I thought he was a pretty hen, and then it was pretty obvious he was a rooster. 3 months ago he had started mating with the hens, being a rooster and roostering around...then about 3 weeks ago he stopped crowing. He was subdued, Id allllmost say lethargic, but he was very alert and active just slighty ...less...but not so much as to think him ill. He looked spectacular until I found him dead in the coop. It was like all of a sudden he assumed a subordinate role. His comb looked great and he was big and sturdy. He just wasnt assuming the lead or mating the hens as much.
We went away for 10 days and I had friends look after my chickens. I returned and they were all fine, and he was the exact same as when I left. I picked him up yesterday though and he was much lighter than I expected, but he usually was so HEAVY that it was a chore to pick him up. Once I felt how light he was, I hung around the coop and yard and watched him and he just showed no signs of anything other than being subdued, he was eating, roosting, hanging with the ladies, poop looked normal, then this am he was dead in the coop.
Im so so sad. He was just so big and beautiful - a real stunner. I was going to get some wormer from the vet as to address the weight loss, and now I feel like I failed him by not being suspicious when he stopped crowing. Im really kindof devastated, that he was sick for potentially 3 weeks and I didnt understand enough.
We went away for 10 days and I had friends look after my chickens. I returned and they were all fine, and he was the exact same as when I left. I picked him up yesterday though and he was much lighter than I expected, but he usually was so HEAVY that it was a chore to pick him up. Once I felt how light he was, I hung around the coop and yard and watched him and he just showed no signs of anything other than being subdued, he was eating, roosting, hanging with the ladies, poop looked normal, then this am he was dead in the coop.
Im so so sad. He was just so big and beautiful - a real stunner. I was going to get some wormer from the vet as to address the weight loss, and now I feel like I failed him by not being suspicious when he stopped crowing. Im really kindof devastated, that he was sick for potentially 3 weeks and I didnt understand enough.