- May 15, 2015
- 14
- 14
- 79
I'm still at work, but hubby called me and said when he got home and let the chickens out, the rooster was dead. No marks on him of any kind, he was fine yesterday, normal activity, and crowing his usual call this morning.
We have 10 hens and him, and a small shed with a fenced in 'yard' with a doggie-door, where they are during the day when no one is home and the dog is out on the acreage. The first family member to get home in the afternoon brings the dog in the house and lets the chickens out to 'free range' the whole acrerage until they go back in to the shed for the night. We are in north central Iowa and the weather is just turning chilly but has not yet frozen. We get 6-7 eggs/day from our 10 hens, which only started laying at the end of October. We got the birds as 16 week old chicks at the end of May.
Is there anything I can do/look at to try to find out why Rooster died? Do I have to be worried about eating/selling the eggs of the remaining chickens? We feed them an organic 'layer hen' feed. Because they 'free range', at the advice of my neighbors, I have not bought supplemental 'grit' during the spring/summer/fall, but was going to get some to give them during the winter.
Advice is welcome, please!!
We have 10 hens and him, and a small shed with a fenced in 'yard' with a doggie-door, where they are during the day when no one is home and the dog is out on the acreage. The first family member to get home in the afternoon brings the dog in the house and lets the chickens out to 'free range' the whole acrerage until they go back in to the shed for the night. We are in north central Iowa and the weather is just turning chilly but has not yet frozen. We get 6-7 eggs/day from our 10 hens, which only started laying at the end of October. We got the birds as 16 week old chicks at the end of May.
Is there anything I can do/look at to try to find out why Rooster died? Do I have to be worried about eating/selling the eggs of the remaining chickens? We feed them an organic 'layer hen' feed. Because they 'free range', at the advice of my neighbors, I have not bought supplemental 'grit' during the spring/summer/fall, but was going to get some to give them during the winter.
Advice is welcome, please!!
