URGENT! Cockerel Problems

[My Pretty Pekins]

This morning we found our poor cockerel dead. He must have suddenly gone with no warning. We presume it was a heart attack or similar as he has been wheezing a lot lately, we tried treating to no avail. He will be missed.

 

[glassdragonfly]

So sorry for your loss

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

Thank you so much

 

[Eggcessive]

I am very sorry for your loss. Do you have a regional poultry lab where you could get a necropsy performed on him, if you refrigerate his body?

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

Unfortunately I don't think we do. Thanks for the idea though!

 

[Eggcessive]

Sometimes doing a necropsy at home, if you are up to it, can give you some clues if you examine and take pictures of the organs. One thing in the back of my mind would be aspergillosis, a respiratory disease caused by mold spores which can cause wheezing and it can spread to many organs through the air sacs. It can show up as yellow or white spots on organs throughout the body and lungs. If you should do the necropsy, take pictures of the organs (liver, intestines, lungs, spleen, etc,) and post them here. Below are some info on aspergillosis and a video that shows and labels the organs:
http://www.poultrydvm.com/condition/aspergillosis

 

[My Pretty Pekins]

A necropsy at home?! That's a scary thought. Sorry... I'm not sure I'm up to that sort of thing.

 

[Eggcessive]

That is understandable. After I lost a few chickens mysteriously, I learned that you could learn from opening the abdomen, and alooking at organs. Nowadays, if I lose one, I usually suspect a reproductive disorder, and just do a brief one to look for the problem. The poultry vets in our states and some poultry colleges, do much more thorough necropsies with lab cultures.