Swedish Flower Hen Thread

[PugBug]

I lost Gunnar.

Monday he was fine and today he passed away on the ride to the veterinarian.

Yesterday he became a bit lethargic and disoriented. No respiratory symptoms - clear eyes/nose... but the top of his comb started turning a purple/black color... and today he died.

His body is at the vet for testing. It could possibly have been a black widow spider bite on his comb, but I won't have answers for a couple days.

I'm pretty torn up over this loss... and I don't have another SFH roo of breeding age.

Once I get the results back and am sure this was not something contagious, I will be looking for another SFH roo to spoil.

This was taken only 4 days ago:

Oh my! I am so sorry, that is terrible! He was beautiful, very striking colors.

 

[PugBug]

meet Peeper



this is the boy I got from Bulldogma last month. Gunnar's oldest son, I believe.

think I need you to raise all of my babies. LOL or at least your middle child.

How very pretty, he's going to be a real beauty!

 

[PugBug]

A few of mine waiting to be let out this morning

 

[Bulldogma]

Leigh,

I am so sorry about your loss of Gunnar. He was a beautiful rooster. Please let us know the reason for his passing. What wonderful folks there are here who have offered to help!

Tony

Thank you, Tony. (Great avatar picture, by the way)
The general thought on the Natural Chicken Keeping thread and among other friends is that it was likely either poisoning or heart failure. I just found out today that our neighbors had an exterminator come a few days ago. It's possible a poisoned mouse was wandering about and Gunnar gobbled it up... but I should know more in the next few days from the vet.

The biggest piece of the puzzle was that Gunnar went from perfectly healthy to dead in less than 24 hours... and his comb and wattles turned bluish-purple and were cold to the touch. This would indicate a lack of oxygen - one of the most common side effects of poisoning... or heart failure. He was also unusually thirsty in the 12 hours before his passing.

It is also not altogether uncommon for roosters to die from heart problems at around 10 months of age - it's a noted phenomena that others have witnessed. It's generally not genetic - it's just one of those really weird things. That just might not answer the thirst thing, but who knows?

We shall see. The vet's first comment was that I had brought him the healthiest looking carcass he'd seen in a long time (aside from the oddly colored comb).

Taken on Sunday:


Taken this morning - an hour before he passed in the truck on the way to the vet.

 

[BHep]

Sorry for your loss Bulldog. So sad.

 

[dungheap71]

The pictures make his comb almost look charred!?

I had a schnauzer as a boy that we used to stud. He was getting on in years. After one of his girlfriends visited, and after an especially busy month for him, we took him swimming. His tongue and ears turned purple and he died. Vet said it was a heart attack. Too much action for his heart...

 

[RedRidge]

I am so sorry Leigh about loosing your roo... it's always hard, but I think even harder when it's a mystery.
Hopefully the mystery will be solved soon and the rest of your flock is fine.

In the meantime, I hope it's ok that I joined this thread.
I feel honored to be getting the last of Gunnar's fertilized eggs.
I've wanted to add SFH for some time but just needed a "push"... guess I got that.
So... I will spend the next several days starting at the beginning of this thread and learning what I can about this beautiful breed.
I am so excited to have these eggs coming. Thanks Leigh for allowing me this opportunity.

 

[Bulldogma]

I am so sorry Leigh about loosing your roo... it's always hard, but I think even harder when it's a mystery.
Hopefully the mystery will be solved soon and the rest of your flock is fine.

In the meantime, I hope it's ok that I joined this thread.
I feel honored to be getting the last of Gunnar's fertilized eggs.
I've wanted to add SFH for some time but just needed a "push"... guess I got that.
So... I will spend the next several days starting at the beginning of this thread and learning what I can about this beautiful breed.
I am so excited to have these eggs coming. Thanks Leigh for allowing me this opportunity.

Welcome to the thread! It makes me happy that you're getting some of these eggs! It also makes me happy that my girls have been laying so well lately and that I have them available.

Originally these eggs weren't going to be for sale. I was going to give them to ki4got for an incubation experiment to learn what factors might play into their hatchability (and then between us we were going to keep some and sell some of the chicks)...
But because my family lives from paycheck to paycheck, I had no other way to cover the bill for the testing. Thank you so much for laying claim to some of these eggs!

ki4got and I will hopefully be able to do our egg experiment soon enough, thanks to the kindness of wildhorseannie!

This loss has really hit me hard, but everyone's condolences and kindnesses have made a world of difference through this tough time.
Thank you all!

 

[jbarrett]

Well bulldogma, we can be upset together.....I just went out to check on everybody (feewd and water) My 100%faoirte SFH rooster Oliver just passed away in my arms.... I just sat out there and cried, Never cried about a chicken before but this was my buddy hed fly up on my shoulder like a parrot when I went in their enclousur

He is now burried in my flower bed I did last year...I loved that boy!

 

[jbarrett]

He is the one in the back my only non crested boy