Sensing sick rooster?

[Jtaranc]

I posted a few months ago about my roosters fighting and wanted to update what ended up happening.

I had 2 roosters in a flock of 28. The RIR roo was the alpha and BCM was younger. The RIR would chase the BCM away but it never progressed to fighting.

There was an order and everything was pieceful for almost a year. They even shared a coop at night without any issues.

One day I watched the BCM chase the RIR, who ran screaming to the front yard. The BCM cornered the RIR and by the time I got there there was blood everywhere and the RIR was stumbling.

I brought the RIR inside and nursed him back to health. He did great and then I put him back outside and put the BCM in a coop away from everyone.

I was trying to allow the RIR to regain his confidence, and he did without the other rooster around. He free ranged with his girls, found them food, mated. To me he appeared totally normal.

About 5 weeks later I was sitting at my kitchen table drinking coffee and watching him forage for bugs and he literally fell over and died. I was shocked. Ran outside and he was gone.


It made me wonder if the BCM knew something was off with him even though to me, he seemed completely normal.

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

I think it’s possible. But could also be coincidence because it’s not unusual for a younger rooster to challenge the dominant one. I suspect that the younger one won the battle because the older one had some underlying weakness but not necessarily that the younger one attacked if that makes sense. I’m sure people with more rooster experience will chime in and i’ll be interested to see what they say. Did they have little squabbles before that or just the one big one?

 

[Jtaranc]

Just the big one. They never touched one another prior. What surprised me was the RIR ran from him screaming. That would normally never ever happen. Maybe the BCM saw weakness in that. I thought the BCM had lost his mind honestly because it was obvious he was trying to kill him. I let him loose after the RIR died and he’s been a good roo since. He’s great with the hens.

I think it’s possible. But could also be coincidence because it’s not unusual for a younger rooster to challenge the dominant one. I suspect that the younger one won the battle because the older one had some underlying weakness but not necessarily that the younger one attacked if that makes sense. I’m sure people with more rooster experience will chime in and i’ll be interested to see what they say. Did they have little squabbles before that or just the one big one?

 

[BlindLemonChicken]

What surprised me was the RIR ran from him screaming. That would normally never ever happen. Maybe the BCM saw weakness in that.

That makes sense. Running is submission so if he did that suddenly when he hadn’t before it was like a green light to the BCM. Chickens are really good at hiding pain and illness so I wonder if he ran because he knew he couldn’t win the fight.

 

[Jtaranc]

That makes sense. Running is submission so if he did that suddenly when he hadn’t before it was like a green light to the BCM. Chickens are really good at hiding pain and illness so I wonder if he ran because he knew he couldn’t win the fight.

Poor guy. At least he had a few good last weeks and he passed quickly. He hatched here so I was rather attached to him.