KatontheLand
Hatching
- May 21, 2024
- 1
- 0
- 2
Hi there,
I woke up this morning to find my otherwise-healthy rooster laid dead on the coop floor. I've read about sudden death syndrome and done other research, but I wanted to check to see if anyone else had any insight (especially to ease my fears that something may happen to the rest of my flock).
For context: he was a truly healthy rooster, chasing us around just the night before, and about two years old. No signs whatsoever of mites, respiratory distress, crop impaction, etc. When I found him this morning, he was laid on his stomach on the coop floor, legs straight out behind him. No discharge from the nostrils, mouth, or vent. No blood or apparent trauma of any kind (rigor mortis had set in but there's no sign of neck trauma that I can tell). All 12 hens seem fine. I suspect heart failure or possibly poisoning (although with poisoning I'd expect some oral or nasal discharge, but not always - we don't have any synthetic poisons on the property but we do have some toxic plants, including hemlock, although they've never been a problem before).
Does anyone have any other ideas?? I'll of course do a sweep of the property and keep an eye on the girls, but if anyone has any other insights or things I should look out for, I'd love to hear. Thank you!
I woke up this morning to find my otherwise-healthy rooster laid dead on the coop floor. I've read about sudden death syndrome and done other research, but I wanted to check to see if anyone else had any insight (especially to ease my fears that something may happen to the rest of my flock).
For context: he was a truly healthy rooster, chasing us around just the night before, and about two years old. No signs whatsoever of mites, respiratory distress, crop impaction, etc. When I found him this morning, he was laid on his stomach on the coop floor, legs straight out behind him. No discharge from the nostrils, mouth, or vent. No blood or apparent trauma of any kind (rigor mortis had set in but there's no sign of neck trauma that I can tell). All 12 hens seem fine. I suspect heart failure or possibly poisoning (although with poisoning I'd expect some oral or nasal discharge, but not always - we don't have any synthetic poisons on the property but we do have some toxic plants, including hemlock, although they've never been a problem before).
Does anyone have any other ideas?? I'll of course do a sweep of the property and keep an eye on the girls, but if anyone has any other insights or things I should look out for, I'd love to hear. Thank you!
