Rooster suddenly dies :( please help

[Allyhoward18]

Ive had my chickens for about 6 weeks now, 3 hens and a cockerel,
I'm new to keeping chickens but yesterday I noticed that the cockerel was being a bit sluggish and looked depressed. He had no physical injuries and all his obs seemed fine.
Then this morning when I let them out of the coop, they all ran out apart from the cockerel who continued to perch up on his roost. This is when I really noticed something was wrong, they are always desperate to get out and find some morning worms. He just looked grumpy, anyway I left and was going to separate him from the hens when I got home from school but when I got home he was lay on the floor of the coop, dead. I was so so shocked!! Awful experience but does anyone know what could have happened?! And what should I do with the rest of the hens?! Are they ok or do I need to treat them for something?

Thanks in advance, any help is hugely appreciated!

 

[cafarmgirl]

How old are they? Since they are relatively new to your property the first thing that comes to my mind is coccidiosis. Young birds are prone to it but also older birds if moved to new property where they may encounter new strains of cocci that they are not resistant too.

There are many things this could have been and without a necropsy there's no way to know for sure but this would have been my first suspicion.

As far as your hens...about all you can do is keep an eye on them for any symptoms. If any of them start acting lethargic then it would be wise to run a course of Corid asap. If you don't already have it, it's always a good idea to get some and just keep it on hand.

 

[Allyhoward18]

They're 17 weeks today and thank you so much for the help, will watch the other closely and get some corid as soon as possible!!!! Thank you for the help, is there anything for general health? I use ACV but is there anything else?

 

[cafarmgirl]

They're 17 weeks today and thank you so much for the help, will watch the other closely and get some corid as soon as possible!!!! Thank you for the help, is there anything for general health? I use ACV but is there anything else?

I'm personally not big on a lot of extra "stuff" lol. For general health I look to a good diet, clean pens, secure coops and staying on top of internal and external parasites. That's about it. I do give Avian Super Pak vitamins in the water 2 or 3 times a week.