Trying to figure out what killed my rooster

[michellepagan]

So today we let our chickens out and they eere all good. We went to round them up and my rooster was found all contorted on the ground( still alive) doing the cropy flop. I picked him up and was able to get him to calm down in my lap. He was very rigid and stiff when I first got to him....like he was in fight or flight and chose fight. He was transferred into a kennel and brought into the house. About 2 hours later he had what I am assuming is a seizure and died. There were no obvious injuries, no leaking fluids or anything else. I am assuming he tried to fly somewhere and hit a tree....any other ideas??

I know i live in a zoo...but we made sure none of he cats and dogs were loose and like i said no obvious injury. I am just looking to prevent something like this from happenjng again. We are building a new coop this summer and will hopefully have "flight" pens available by fall.

 

[Alaskan]

Wow, I have no guesses either.

Did you ever figure out what might have happened?

Was he your only rooster?

 

[michellepagan]

Yeah he was my only roo, the lady who gave him to us is a friend of my oldest sons so she is going to give us a new roo this fall. Unfortunatly 2 days after we lost him my dog got into my hen houses and decimated my flock. He managed to flip the two portable coops we have. So I moved my winter pen outside retrofitted it. And put 13 new chicks into it today. No yummy eggs before September/ October, but we'll survive.

 

[Valkyrie123]

Check closely for blood or small puncture wounds. It could have been a hawk. Their talons make deep puncture wounds that bleed very little on the outside, but internally the wounds are deep. Do you have any plants in the yard that are dangerous to chickens? Was there any antifreeze in an open container anywhere?

Without a necropsy it will be near impossible to tell and that won't bring your chicken back. It will also be very expensive. The thing you need to worry about now is picking out a new rooster.

 

[Alaskan]

Ack!

I had the same problem this past winter. A neighbor dog broke into my coop and killed every since chicken I had.