Sudden rooster death

[Bejep714]

This morning I went to my coop before it was bright out and the rooster, a 10-month-old rooster, was sitting on the ground. He was perched up top last night and he was on the ground in the morning before it was bright out so he couldn't have gotten down and he was acting weird. His comb was pushed over and his one leg was sort of out straight but other than that he was fine because we brought him inside, gave him food and water and he drank water. He was alert. He didn't look sick. There was no cuts or scratches or anything. He was completely fine and I got home from work today and he was dead and it looked like he just passed away in his sleep. It didn't look like there was any shock that happened when he died. It just looked like he died. I'm just worried that it's a disease that the other chickens can get. Everybody else is acting completely fine but I'm not sure what else it could be unless he fell off the coop and hurt himself and then chickens just die because of that. I know that they are sort of fragile when it comes to injuries at times but he was 10 months old. He lived with another rooster. They were friends and 10 hens in this hut. It did snow hard so for the past few days he couldn't have, there was no grass to eat and they had to stay inside but I can't see that being any reason for his death. Any ideas? It was sudden so I want to be on top of things if it is a sickness

 

[McChooky]

This morning I went to my coop before it was bright out and the rooster, a 10-month-old rooster, was sitting on the ground. He was perched up top last night and he was on the ground in the morning before it was bright out so he couldn't have gotten down and he was acting weird. His comb was pushed over and his one leg was sort of out straight but other than that he was fine because we brought him inside, gave him food and water and he drank water. He was alert. He didn't look sick. There was no cuts or scratches or anything. He was completely fine and I got home from work today and he was dead and it looked like he just passed away in his sleep. It didn't look like there was any shock that happened when he died. It just looked like he died. I'm just worried that it's a disease that the other chickens can get. Everybody else is acting completely fine but I'm not sure what else it could be unless he fell off the coop and hurt himself and then chickens just die because of that. I know that they are sort of fragile when it comes to injuries at times but he was 10 months old. He lived with another rooster. They were friends and 10 hens in this hut. It did snow hard so for the past few days he couldn't have, there was no grass to eat and they had to stay inside but I can't see that being any reason for his death. Any ideas? It was sudden so I want to be on top of things if it is a sickness

I'm sorry your rooster passed suddenly.Not sure what this could be but Mareks can cause them to throw one leg straight out like that.They can also die suddenly.If you've added any chickens to your flock you might want to watch them closely.Young chickens are more vulnerable to Mareks or so I've been told

 

[BigBlueHen53]

there was no grass to eat

Did they have their regular food to eat? Did they have access to water that wasn't frozen?

 

[Bejep714]

Thank you! We introduced this group of chickens to our original batch when they were chicks in march, and they’ve been living together since then. We got them from a farm, so they weren’t vaccinated if that matters, Im not sure if Im thinking of something different. We do have 3 other roosters that are free range from that group, and they’ve been living have been fine as well as the 7 hens that came with it too. I’ll keep an eye out though. Thank you

 

[Bejep714]

Did they have their regular food to eat? Did they have access to water that wasn't frozen?

No grass, but they had good food and water at all times. They get grass every couple days when we let them out to free range, so missing out because of snow is wasn’t out of the ordinary for them.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Okay. Grass is not necessary, and if it's very long can actually cause impacted crop, so them not having it should not be a problem at all. As long as they have free access to their commercial food all day, they should be fine.

 

[McChooky]

This morning I went to my coop before it was bright out and the rooster, a 10-month-old rooster, was sitting on the ground. He was perched up top last night and he was on the ground in the morning before it was bright out so he couldn't have gotten down and he was acting weird. His comb was pushed over and his one leg was sort of out straight but other than that he was fine because we brought him inside, gave him food and water and he drank water. He was alert. He didn't look sick. There was no cuts or scratches or anything. He was completely fine and I got home from work today and he was dead and it looked like he just passed away in his sleep. It didn't look like there was any shock that happened when he died. It just looked like he died. I'm just worried that it's a disease that the other chickens can get. Everybody else is acting completely fine but I'm not sure what else it could be unless he fell off the coop and hurt himself and then chickens just die because of that. I know that they are sort of fragile when it comes to injuries at times but he was 10 months old. He lived with another rooster. They were friends and 10 hens in this hut. It did snow hard so for the past few days he couldn't have, there was no grass to eat and they had to stay inside but I can't see that being any reason for his death. Any ideas? It was sudden so I want to be on top of things if it is a sickness

I'm curious why your rooster couldn't have get on the ground before daylight? Couldn't he have fallen off the roosting bars during the night?If you found him outside with the coop shut that's a whole different matter

 

[Bejep714]

I'm curious why your rooster couldn't have get on the ground before daylight? Couldn't he have fallen off the roosting bars during the night?If you found him outside with the coop shut that's a whole different matter

They all sit up on these bars we have in the coop, probably 5 feet above the floor of the coop. He was up top at night and down Low acting wierd at night. He could have hit another lower bar on the way down