Rooster died suddenly

[jnjmanning]

We left Monday for vacation. When came home Thursday afternoon, let the chickens out, everyone seemed fine. Then around 7pm we noticed our rooster missing, he had already gone to the coop to roost. Next morning he seemed a little lethargic, like he was very tired, crowed but only 6 times. We saw him drink through the day but not eat. He refused to leave the chicken yard and range with the hens, showed no interest in them at all. We just figured he was stressed due to the change and us being gone. We searched him over for injuries, or mites or anything on him and found nothing. When we got up this morning he refused to come out of the coop, we brought him out and offered him food and water, he just walked away and sat down, then I noticed his comb was very cold and starting to turn a purplish blue, he was breathing very hard and within 15 mins was dead! HELP!!! I have 4 hens, they all seem fine! I am also hatching eggs, the first 2 hatched this morning. Any ideas what happened, He was a young roo just abut 3 yrs old.

 

[CMV]

3 y.o. is not actually that young for a roo. Most never see that age.

When a roo drops dead suddenly it is usually heart related, but I hesitate to say this is the case with your roo because his presentation of symptoms beforehand would indicate that he was ailing, and eventually succumbed to his illness. Unfortunately, without a necropsy you are unlikely to figure out what was going on with him. I also wouldn't really recommend an at-home necropsy because they frequently raise more questions than answers. I would keep an eye on the rest of the flock, but assume the problem was with just the roo. I doubt the rest of the flock is going to show any problems.

I am sorry for your loss. Good luck with the rest of the flock.

 

[flowerchic]

Sorry for your loss. Hope all your other chickens will be fine!! I lost a 3 mos old Cornish X two days ago, but all the others seem fine, fingers-crossed!!

 

[jnjmanning]

Thanks everyone for your response. After a lot of reading we figured heart failure. All the hens are doing fine. I hatched 11 babies yesterday. Pretty good odds out of 12 eggs!