Rooster fight - why did he die?

[BlessedCountry6]

sorry for your loss! it sounds like you did a great job separating them. accidents happen, poor rooster. It doesn't sound like you could have done anything.

 

[centrarchid]

Bruising usually takes a little for blue coloration to manifest. What does show up quickly at least externally is the swelling associated with bruising. When my games git into drawn out battles in the the mud their heads tend to be swollen to the point that eyes swell shut. The neck also looses flexibility. The mud makes so impact from wings and biting makes for the majority of the damage.

 

[centrarchid]

Asphyxiation results in very rapid development of blue coloration. Worminess can cause the same and hens do not like rooster that develop blue faces.

 

[Wishapup]

Bruising usually takes a little for blue coloration to manifest. What does show up quickly at least externally is the swelling associated with bruising. When my games git into drawn out battles in the the mud their heads tend to be swollen to the point that eyes swell shut. The neck also looses flexibility. The mud makes so impact from wings and biting makes for the majority of the damage.

Asphyxiation results in very rapid development of blue coloration. Worminess can cause the same and hens do not like rooster that develop blue faces.

I was inspecting the body again. I see no discoloration, contusions, or swelling on the main body, and I looked at the neck area in particular. Nothing visibly wrong at skin-level and diameter appears to be of normal size. The only color change was after death (or just before?), when his wattles/comb turned blueish. He seemed to be getting some air at first and then gradually less and less.

If he had not had died, judging by the injuries it looks like a minor skirmish. Typical comb/facial injuries, some blood on the back of the winner's head, and a little blood on the loser's feet. With other roosters, I have seen numerous feathers pulled out (including the loss of one entire tail which took months to grow back in), limping, swollen eyes, and lacerations. They also typically look very matted and bloody in general but recover within a few days. This rooster looks much better than that, but is dead.

sorry for your loss! it sounds like you did a great job separating them. accidents happen, poor rooster. It doesn't sound like you could have done anything.

Thank you, it seemed to happen very quickly!

 

[centrarchid]

Swelling could also be in the brain case or some area where the bird's ability to ventilate was diminished..

 

[maddog3355]

How did you try to get him to drink? Hope you didn't pour water down him. Lungs might of filled up with water.

 

[Wishapup]

How did you try to get him to drink? Hope you didn't pour water down him. Lungs might of filled up with water.

Oh no, I wouldn't do that. He was incapable of drinking on his own. I wet the tip of his beak several times and he swallowed. It wasn't much.

Add: I had to hold his head up while I was doing it. It wasn't long before he was too weak for me to continue.

 

[centrarchid]

Does not take much but a healthy bird would not be so easily effected.


Next time when trying to deal with what is thought to be acute heat stress, I suggest you place the birds feet in a water ice bath and wet areas below wings making so wet areas are then exposed.

 

[Wishapup]

Next time when trying to deal with what is thought to be acute heat stress, I suggest you place the birds feet in a water ice bath and wet areas below wings making so wet areas are then exposed.

Thank you! While I was trying to figure out what to do, I told a family member to hold his wings out from his body to help cool him. I should have thought of putting water there too. But I wasn't positive he was too hot because shaking can also be from shock...and in that case you want to keep them warm...it happened so fast I didn't have time to decide what to try.

It definitely wasn't from the water I gave him, but maybe if I could have cooled him faster it might have helped.

 

[centrarchid]

Something I do when hauling birds under conditions to promote heat stress is to wrap frozen water bottles in a towel and place in the box so bird stands on it during transport. Such is less traumatic they ice water treatment described above.