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.

 

[silki girl]

im so sorry

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

Sorry for you loss and welcome to BYC!

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Do these products contain calcium, WR? I know layer formulas do. I start my chicks on a chick starter formula, but switch them over to an All Flock by about 8 weeks, when I integrate them with my adult flock. I make the switch gradually over about 3 or 4 weeks.

Yes, both chick starter and all flock contain calcium.
Calcium ranges around .75-1.25 in these type of feeds while for Layer Feed calcium 3.25-4.75 or so.
Growing chicks do need a little calcium.

I feed an all flock year round to my flock, I provide oyster shell free choice.
For chicks I may buy some chick starter just so I have it in crumble form, because the all flock I current get is pelleted. But I have just put the pellets in the food processor and ground it down too

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Yes, both chick starter and all flock contain calcium.
Calcium ranges around .75-1.25 in these type of feeds while for Layer Feed calcium 3.25-4.75 or so.
Growing chicks do need a little calcium.

I feed an all flock year round to my flock, I provide oyster shell free choice.
For chicks I may buy some chick starter just so I have it in crumble form, because the all flock I current get is pelleted. But I have just put the pellets in the food processor and ground it down too

Thank you. Sometimes we can get the All Flock in pellets, sometimes only in crumbles. I didn't think about the food processor, good idea.

 

[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.

 

[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.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Chick feed MUST be given for the first 16-18 weeks of life,to a chick.Adult food given too soon can cause all kinds of health issues,including damage to the kidneys,because of too much calcium,and shortened life span. If you don't know how old the bird is,it is safer going over 18 weeks,than going under.

Thank you for the input.
Chick Starter or an All Flock Feed can be given to chick(en)s at any stage in life.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Thank you. Sometimes we can get the All Flock in pellets, sometimes only in crumbles. I didn't think about the food processor, good idea.

Pellets and crumbles both are hard and will dull the blades over time, so if you use your food processor a lot or you have an expensive one, then consider getting a cheap one from a thrift store or buy the cheapest you can find.

I don't use a processor for cooking/food prep, so several years back I found a cheapo and use it for chick(en) feed. I'm not opposed to using the one I have for my own food too, it washes up perfectly fine, but I have no need for it other than for chick feed.

IF you are finding you need to grind a LOT of feed, it would be more practical to just feed everyone in a mixed flock Chick Starter crumble until the chicks are able to handle pellets. I've done that too. Sometimes on a few rare occasions all flock feed simply was not available, so everybody just got chick starter.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you, this was very helpful! I appreciate you sharing your experience. Sigh, I wish you would write a book, How to Raise Chickens for Dummies or the like, I would def buy a copy!