My rooster died

[ChickieChris]

No apparent reason why. He was fine yesterday, crowing, eating, "courting" the girls. He appeared fine last night when I shut them up in the coop. I did notice some mild frostbite on his comb last night and told hubby that I was going to have to google what to do about it. This morning when I went out to open the coop around 7:30am he was laying dead on the floor under his spot on the roost. I don't think he had been gone too long cause he wasn't stiff, but he was cold so long enough. Also, when I went back out at lunch to bury him I noticed his neck was broken....very floppy. Don't know he dead on the roost and that happened in the fall from his roost or if he fell from the roost some how and i
He hit something on the way down. I'm puzzled. He is a (was a Delacauna ) 25 weeks old. He hasn't shown any signs of illness (other than the mild frostbite). Do healthy chickens just drop dead? An necropsy was out of the question today as the only place that does them is an hour away and I couldn't get him there today and they told me that even if I overnighted him to them they wouldn't get to him until Monday and that it would be too late then. I know no one can give me a solid answer, but any thoughts and ideas even would be appreciated.

 

[TTracy]

I am so sorry for your loss! Its even harder when we don't know what happened and weather or not we could have prevented it.

 

[cackleberrycam]

So sorry!

 

[realsis]

I'm so sorry this happened.its very sad.i can say sadly I've had what I thought to be a healthy bird one day die the next over night.. One thing I can say is chickens are very very good at hiding illness . It is in their nature to hide what is wrong so sometimes we don't even notice any thing is going on or by the time we do notice they are very gravely Ill. I wish I had some answers for you but it would be impossible to guess with out any clues.

 

[Fancychooklady]

I had a perfectly healthy roo die unexpectedly . I fed them and when I went back an hour later he was dead. The darkening of the comb can also be a sign of poor circulation or heart problems. I think that mine must have had a heart attack. He was very verile.

 

[kimmommy23]

Really sorry this happened.

 

[NicChicks2013]

So sorry for your loss..Rest in peace

 

[ChickieChris]

Interesting about the darkening of the comb....I thought that the only reason for that was frostbite. Frankly, I was wondering how he could have frostbite when I have done EVERYTHING to prevent it....I have been so careful about it. I wonder if it was poor circulation that was the cause. Guess we will never know, but thank you for that offering of information.
I have read that big breeds sometimes have heart defects and he was a big big roo. A big beautiful boy! And he was a sweetheart too. Not looking forward to trying to find a replacement.

 

[ChickieChris]

Thank you all!