Rescue Rooster Died

[amulcahey06]

I rescued a dumped rooster from the road I live on and he seemed to be doing really well for awhile I had him for about three weeks, and because I had another rooster I had to keep him separate from my other chickens, but I converted an old barn room I had into a place for him to stay with a heat lamp and plenty of food and water. I also let him run around outside a lot and he got very comfortable with me handling him and I even put him in a big dog kennel in my other chicken coop so he wouldn’t get attacked but also wouldn’t be lonely. I noticed a couple days ago he stopped eating the usual food I was giving him as much so I started giving him a richer grain with corn chunk in it that he loved and he started to get better but then 2 days ago I noticed he had diarrhea but no other symptoms than that so I didn’t think anything of it because he was still acting normal but then when I went to go check on him yesterday evening to let him out he was dead next to his heat lamp which puzzles me because he was a juvenile and it wasn’t cold. I’d just like to know if anyone knows why he died because he was one of the sweetest roosters i’ve ever taken care of and I want to make sure he wasn’t suffering so I don’t make the same mistake if I happen to rescue another rooster.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about your cockerel.

It's hard to know why he died unless you have testing/necropsy through your State Lab, if you still have the body, you can refrigerate it and make arrangements to have diagnostics done.

Just a few guesses - if he was young and was new to your property, he may have succumbed to Coccidiosis.
An impacted crop is a possibility as well, if he didn't find sufficient grit and sadly,
sometimes when birds are dumped, they have some type of illness that the previous owner didn't want to deal with so he may have had an underlying condition that overtook him.
But you won't know unless you have testing done.

 

[silki girl]

im so sorry

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Sorry for you loss and welcome to BYC!

 

[amulcahey06]

Welcome To BYC

I'm sorry to hear about your cockerel.

It's hard to know why he died unless you have testing/necropsy through your State Lab, if you still have the body, you can refrigerate it and make arrangements to have diagnostics done.

Just a few guesses - if he was young and was new to your property, he may have succumbed to Coccidiosis.
An impacted crop is a possibility as well, if he didn't find sufficient grit and sadly,
sometimes when birds are dumped, they have some type of illness that the previous owner didn't want to deal with so he may have had an underlying condition that overtook him.
But you won't know unless you have testing done.

Thank you so much for trying to help I dug a hole and buried him right away after I found out, but if its Coccidiosis should I be worried about my other chickens because he was in the coop with them? He wasn’t in direct contact but he was still around them I just want to make sure it isn’t contagious.

 

[nuthatched]

What food was he eating? It's impossible to say what really happened, we can only guess.

 

[amulcahey06]

What food was he eating? It's impossible to say what really happened, we can only guess.

I was feeding him payback nutritions egg layer at first because my other rooster eats it without a problem but once he stopped wanting to eat that I started feeding him payback nutritions country buffet, and I brought him tons of snacks like fresh vegetables, and leftover food scraps but nothing my other chickens wouldn’t be able to eat.

 

[nuthatched]

I was feeding him payback nutritions egg layer at first because my other rooster eats it without a problem but once he stopped wanting to eat that I started feeding him payback nutritions country buffet, and I brought him tons of snacks like fresh vegetables, and leftover food scraps but nothing my other chickens wouldn’t be able to eat.

Too many extras aren't great for chickens, they don't have the proper nutrition. That's not what killed him though. Not wanting yo eat is usually a sign of issues.

 

[amulcahey06]

Too many extras aren't great for chickens, they don't have the proper nutrition. That's not what killed him though. Not wanting yo eat is usually a sign of issues.

Good to know and thank you next time I rescue one I’m going to make sure I specifically have cockerel food, and yeah I thought he was fine though and just being picky because he’d only eat the country buffet grain after we started giving it to him.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you so much for trying to help I dug a hole and buried him right away after I found out, but if its Coccidiosis should I be worried about my other chickens because he was in the coop with them? He wasn’t in direct contact but he was still around them I just want to make sure it isn’t contagious.

I was feeding him payback nutritions egg layer at first because my other rooster eats it without a problem but once he stopped wanting to eat that I started feeding him payback nutritions country buffet, and I brought him tons of snacks like fresh vegetables, and leftover food scraps but nothing my other chickens wouldn’t be able to eat.

Coccidiosis is probably not an issue for your existing flock if they have been on the same ground for a good while.
The concern is when you bring in a bird and they are introduced to soil and poop they have not encountered before.

For young birds, I would feed an all flock feed or chick starter instead of layer feed. Limit snacks since you want them to eat the feed for most of their diet. Do provide grit (crushed granite) free choice when offering veggies, grains, scratch, etc.