Poor Cornish Rooster....

[Chicken7777]

Well I bought three cornish crosses in november and raised them as chicks.
They are now three months old, two hens and one rooster.
The thing is the two hens have been doing great, but the rooster has been only laying on his stomach and just not doing anything.
The hens though are actually moving around and are actuve unlike the rooster.

The thing is i woke up today to find the rooster dead laying on its face dead in the chicken coop....

.its soo sad because we took care of him as a chick and of course I didnt buy him to eat but to just see how cornishes are raised and to see if its really true that they grow like crazy...I also bought the two hens and one rooster to have them breed because i wanted to know what the offsprings would be like.

Well Its soo sad but was his death a natural normal death or could it have been something else? I dont want to feel guilty for this poor guy but seriously the other two hens are doing great.

Thank you!

 

[keeperofthechickens]

Sadly those cornish X's aren't meant to live long.

I kept 2 Roosters and 4 hens two summers ago from a shipment of 25. I free ranged them and they grew huge, but both roosters died before the first winter, and my last hen just passed away a month ago. All seemed to be from heart attacks.

 

[HidingInTheHenHouse]

It is very likely just a natural death. At 3 months old, the cornish crosses are living on borrowed time. They have been breed to be butchered at 6-9 weeks, so their hearts will give out as their bodies grow too big.

Also, if he was no longer standing, it could have been that his legs had given out and could no longer hold up the weight.

Sorry for your loss.

 

[Chicken7777]

Well now I am wondering what to do I wouldnt want it to go to waste but I dont want to eat it myself either.... Should it be okay to eat ?
It just died this morning so i dont know what to think...

Well thank you everyone.