My rooster died and I don't know why. He was about 6 months old, healthy, no signs of being sick or hurt or anything. All the other chickens are fine, including the 4 hens he was raised with, who are the same age. I went to go put them away for the night (he was fine when I let him out this morning) and he was laying on the grass, dead. No feathers missing, no sign of a fight, no blood, his neck wasn't broken.
I do have dogs but they were locked up. During the day, the chickens have free range around the property, and we have had predators attack the birds before, but in that case there is major injury and usually the predator carries them off.
Maybe he ate something bad? Could it be an illness? Like I said, he wasn't showing signs of sickness at all and the others are fine too. We do have a very aggressive male goose and 2 females who also wander the yard, but they stay out of each others way, and I assume if it was the goose who killed him there'd be signs of a fight or injuries.
However, I got this rooster with 5 other chicks. When they were a few months old, one of them died in a similar fashion- we just found it dead, no signs of injury and it hadn't been acting sick. I had guessed that it was a rooster, but it was too young to tell at the time. Could this be related to the current rooster death? All the hens have been fine (he was the only rooster).
He lived in a coop with his 4 "siblings" and 5 older hens. We live in southern california so the weather is only a little cool, and dry. They all get fed laying mash twice a day and during the day they can roam the yard and eat whatever they find out there. Sometimes they get meal worms as treats. Water is changed every day.
If anyone has some idea what might have happened, please share. I want to be able to protect my other birds.
He was a good rooster it is very sad
I do have dogs but they were locked up. During the day, the chickens have free range around the property, and we have had predators attack the birds before, but in that case there is major injury and usually the predator carries them off.
Maybe he ate something bad? Could it be an illness? Like I said, he wasn't showing signs of sickness at all and the others are fine too. We do have a very aggressive male goose and 2 females who also wander the yard, but they stay out of each others way, and I assume if it was the goose who killed him there'd be signs of a fight or injuries.
However, I got this rooster with 5 other chicks. When they were a few months old, one of them died in a similar fashion- we just found it dead, no signs of injury and it hadn't been acting sick. I had guessed that it was a rooster, but it was too young to tell at the time. Could this be related to the current rooster death? All the hens have been fine (he was the only rooster).
He lived in a coop with his 4 "siblings" and 5 older hens. We live in southern california so the weather is only a little cool, and dry. They all get fed laying mash twice a day and during the day they can roam the yard and eat whatever they find out there. Sometimes they get meal worms as treats. Water is changed every day.
If anyone has some idea what might have happened, please share. I want to be able to protect my other birds.
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