Two Roosters Dead in Two Years!

[Corona Ranch]

I'm fairly new to raising chickens (only been raising chickens for 4 years) and in August 2016 I got my first roosters (2), 4 chicks in total. They were the result of a neighbor's rooster "visiting" my girls while I was at work lol. They all grew up just fine, but summer of 2017 one of the roosters, Lucious, was attacked by his brother, fell ill and within 2 days of all this he was dead. I originally thought that he died as a result of being attacked but after loosing the 2nd one a year later I'm thinking the attack on Lucious was BECAUSE he was sick. Mr. Darcey, the brother, died just this past summer and exhibited very similar symptoms as Lucious did before he died. Mr Darcey's symptoms are listed below in the order they came.

Day one:
less crowing and weak sounding crows
a little lethargic but still doing chicken things with the rest of the flock
Panting

Day 2:
Limp comb and a bit pale, definitely not it's usual color
No crowing
Very Lethargic
Loss of appetite
Green watery poops
Breathing looks more like gasping now
Did start flailing at one point but stopped once I began to tend to him
Gurgly breathing
Death overnight

On day 2 I was giving him electrolyte water and foods with antibiotic properties which seemed to perk him up a bit, but obviously didn't fix the issue. He was not separated from the flock until the night of his death.

Can anyone shed light as to what may have killed my roos? Non of my girls exhibited any of these symptoms, including the mother and sibling hens of the 2 roosters. The rest of the flock was just fine and are still fine. But now, about a month ago, Mr. Darcey's sister just had 3 chicks by him (she "disappeared" right before he died) and they're all roosters. So now I fear that all of these boys will have the same fate.. Can anyone tell if this is genetic??

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I doubt there is any connection. The deaths were a year apart.

Usually severely genetically weak individuals show at hatch with failure to thrive, splayed legs, curled toes, malformations.

Or they have compromised immune systems which makes them susceptible to whatever illness goes by. Typically those look a bit unthrifty too.

Less than hardy genetically present with a lower immune system which shows in being the parasite magnate...the birds that always seem to have external or internal parasites.

Obviously you only want to breed from your strongest stock.

You've also recaptured genes from the strong hen, so at this point, I would not assume anything about the new cockerals....just watch.

I would try to figure out if your roosters got into something that may have been poisonous. It could also have aspergillis (mold).

Have you wormed recently? Checked for parasites?

Roosters can be more prone to external parasites.

Green watery poo can be internal parasites.

Gasping, lethargy, weakness are all indications of an overwhelmed system and can come from heat, parasites, toxins, as well as illnesses.

My thoughts.
Lofmc

 

[Corona Ranch]

I doubt there is any connection. The deaths were a year apart.

Usually severely genetically weak individuals show at hatch with failure to thrive, splayed legs, curled toes, malformations.

Or they have compromised immune systems which makes them susceptible to whatever illness goes by. Typically those look a bit unthrifty too.

Less than hardy genetically present with a lower immune system which shows in being the parasite magnate...the birds that always seem to have external or internal parasites.

Obviously you only want to breed from your strongest stock.

You've also recaptured genes from the strong hen, so at this point, I would not assume anything about the new cockerals....just watch.

I would try to figure out if your roosters got into something that may have been poisonous. It could also have aspergillis (mold).

Have you wormed recently? Checked for parasites?

Roosters can be more prone to external parasites.

Green watery poo can be internal parasites.

Gasping, lethargy, weakness are all indications of an overwhelmed system and can come from heat, parasites, toxins, as well as illnesses.

My thoughts.
Lofmc

Thank you for your input! I just thought it was weird that only my roosters got ill and died while all the other chickens carried on business as usual. They were really sweet and docile roosters, too. So i was pretty sad when they passed.