Rooster just up and died. :(

[MaryZoe]

What the heck could cause my perfectly healthy, strong young roo to up and die one night? He was fine, fine, fine yesterday when I put them to bed for the night. I went out this morning and he was lying with his neck at an odd angle (almost underneath him), cold and dead. It was a rainy evening and night, and he was not in his house, but I can't figure out what might have killed him. He was locked inside a gated area, so it could not have been my LGD's, and they would have alerted me if it had been any other predator. Plus he was intact. There was a spent sabal palm branch (the ones that fall when their seeds have all fallen) on the ground not far from him. But those branches aren't even that heavy. Has anyone had a roo killed by a falling branch? I can't think of anything else that could have killed him.

 

[Lewis is in the coop]

What the heck could cause my perfectly healthy, strong young roo to up and die one night? He was fine, fine, fine yesterday when I put them to bed for the night. I went out this morning and he was lying with his neck at an odd angle (almost underneath him), cold and dead. It was a rainy evening and night, and he was not in his house, but I can't figure out what might have killed him. He was locked inside a gated area, so it could not have been my LGD's, and they would have alerted me if it had been any other predator. Plus he was intact. There was a spent sabal palm branch (the ones that fall when their seeds have all fallen) on the ground not far from him. But those branches aren't even that heavy. Has anyone had a roo killed by a falling branch? I can't think of anything else that could have killed him.

Have u got any type of land predators near you if so he could have had a heart attack From the stress and the way he was found dead with his neck how it was. Was probably from him landing that way sorry for your loss

 

[Eggcessive]

Save his body and refrigerate it in a plastic garbage bag. Contact your state poultry lab (Animal Disease Lab at Kissimmee) early Monday, then drive his body or ship it overnight via Fedex or UPS with ice packs to the poultry lab for a necropsy. Chickens can die suddenly from a number of problems that we may not notice, such as heart issues. Here is a list of state poultry labs:
http://www.metzerfarms.com/PoultryLabs.cfm

Here is another link for the state vet school and necropsies:
https://extension.vetmed.ufl.edu/poultry-extension/

 

[Broody Bist]

Its so weird that you say this, my Orpington died suddenly a few years ago, almost the same as yours.

Was it storming the night he died?? There was a thunderstorm when my hen died, but my chickens are completely protected and sheltered in their coop. I woke up and Rapunzel, one of my buff Orpingtons, was dead on the ground. Her feet were still curved like she was still hanging on to the roost pole.
I still don’t know what happened, maybe she was struck by lightning?? Was it lightning when your roo died?

 

[llombardo]

Last summer I came home for lunch and my boy came to me with a purple comb then started flopping on the ground. I swooped him up and put my finger down his throat to clear his airway and then rubbed his neck. The color started coming back to his comb shortly after that. I think he ate something to big and was choking. Luckily I came home and he knew to come to me when he was in trouble. He would have died if I was not there.

 

[MaryZoe]

@Eggcessive, I contacted my state chicken lady and she said that because it would be Tuesday before the lab would get the bird, it might be too late to check for most diseases. She also said that if another dies, I should definitely double bag it and refrigerate it. But I don't think it was disease. His body was mostly stiff and his head was wobbly, so it does seem like a broken neck. His comb was totally purple, like @llombardo's roo, and, @Broody Bist, it was storming. Finally, my LGD was out in my yard, closer to their coop than normal. Perhaps @Lewis is in the coop is right and my own LGD gave it a heart attack. It's definitely a mystery.

 

[WannaBeHillBilly]

Five decades ago, my uncle lost most of his chickens during a violent thunderstorm. Although the chickens were used to lightning and thunder, some of them were literally scared to death while others killed themselves by fling into the ceiling when a lightning struck the lightning-rod at the neighbors house.
Could it be that your birds (@MaryZoe and @Broody Bist ) suffered from a similar faith? A very loud noise during a storm? - Just guessing…

 

[Broody Bist]

Five decades ago, my uncle lost most of his chickens during a violent thunderstorm. Although the chickens were used to lightning and thunder, some of them were literally scared to death while others killed themselves by fling into the ceiling when a lightning struck the lightning-rod at the neighbors house.
Could it be that your birds (@MaryZoe and @Broody Bist ) suffered from a similar faith? A very loud noise during a storm? - Just guessing…

Probably.. I hate to think about it, Rapunzel was such a sweet girl. I doubt lightning struck her, my guess would have to be there was just a loud clap of thunder that gave her a heart attack.

 

[MaryZoe]

Five decades ago, my uncle lost most of his chickens during a violent thunderstorm. Although the chickens were used to lightning and thunder, some of them were literally scared to death while others killed themselves by fling into the ceiling when a lightning struck the lightning-rod at the neighbors house.
Could it be that your birds (@MaryZoe and @Broody Bist ) suffered from a similar faith? A very loud noise during a storm? - Just guessing…

I know someone who lost a whole hatch of turkey poults to a thunder storm. It is definitely a possibility. I did not find my boy inside his house, so he did not startle and jump into a ceiling as far as I can tell. But who knows. Poor thing. I love my roos and hate to lose one so senselessly.