Why Did My Rooster Die?

[fuzzi]

I lost my head rooster/cockerel last week.

I looked at photos of Joel, to try to figure out when he started to decline.

November 3, 2023, full body, nice tail.

November 25, 2023, tail looks smaller.

December 9, 2023, still decent tail feathers

December 16, 2023, looking smaller, tail smaller

December 23, 2023...tail is small, body hunched, eyes closed. I think @Wyorp Rock mentioned something about an enlarged crop, but I missed it. Joel liked to nap, so I didn't think anything about him closing his eyes.

Joel was deposed by his brother Samuel around January 14, but there were no signs of injuries, or fighting. I noticed was Joel hiding in the back of the coop, I picked him up, couldn't find evidence of injury, mites, fleas, anything. His comb was full, red, his feathers glossy. I figured he was hiding because of his new status. Samuel was strutting around, practicing his crow.

Then on January 21 I noticed Joel not walking over to get food I was tossing down. When he tried to walk he had trouble staying upright, so I picked him up to check his feet, legs. Everything looked normal. I put him down gently, he fell over, started thrashing about. Samuel rushed over so I tried to grab Joel out of harm's way, got a hold of his tail and all his tail feathers came off in my hand.

As he kept thrashing his feathers flew all over. I grabbed him, but he stopped moving and his head flopped over. He was gone. There was a tiny spot of blood at the back of his comb, and I think he hit himself there as he was thrashing about.

We buried him later that day.

Have any of you experienced something similar that could help determine what happened with Joel? He was just shy of 11 months old.

Food: grower crumbles, little bits of fruit, cheese, carrot greens, lettuce, collards.

No exposure to wild birds, kept in a hoop coop on deep litter.

 

[azygous]

How tragic and sad. My guess is that this may have something to do with the two roosters switching dominance roles. Two summers ago, something similar occurred with my two roosters. The younger roo thrashed the older one brutally, and exiled him.

It took me all day to find the exiled roo. When I brought him back, he was terrified to be near the younger roo that had beat him so badly. In fact, he wouldn't eat or even stay in the run unless I moved the now dominant roo out of it. It took me a couple of days of special treatment to restore this roo's self confidence so he would even eat. If I hadn't, chances are he would have starved to death.

That's what your description of your roo's final days sound like happened to him. He starved himself to death because he felt unworthy to exist after being vanquished by the other roo. This probably happens more than people realize, and only by intervening can such a rooster be saved from his self imposed fate.

 

[ManueB]

Fuzzy, I didn't know you had lost Joel. I am very sorry for your loss. I felt through your posts and pictures how fond of him you were.

I'm far from having Azygous experience but having seen one switch of dominance, I can totally believe her explanation is possible. In the case of my bantam rooster Théo, fights and uncertainty lasted for several months and the day Théo finally gave in, everything in his composure changed. He seemed to live constantly in terror. Indeed if I had not intervened by feeding him separately and letting him go to a safe place for some time during the day he would probably not have survived.

But, I also remember the way things went for @Perris with Chirk, the senior rooster. When he was deposed he disappeared for several days and came back very sick. Perris first thought he had caught this while out but then realised maybe it could be the other way round : if he was weak and sick the junior rooster could have taken advantage of that to throw him out. So, I would not rule out that Joel had a health issue that made him weaker and Samuel felt this and turned on him.
I noticed you said he liked to nap. It seems to me this is rather unusual for a head rooster. Cockerels do nap and some quite a lot, but I get the impression once they feel they are looking over hens, they stop and actually rest very little as they stay on guard all the time.

My last comment is about the feathers coming off. This has happened to me the one time I euthanised a hen and she took a much longer time to die than I hoped. Her feathers fell all over the place. I have no idea if this is the sign of something in particular; it did not happen for the chickens I saw die from disease.

Again, please accept my sympathy. It must have been traumatic and sad to have him die in your arms, and not knowing what exactly happened is so difficult.

 

[JedJackson]

Joel could have sustained a brain injury while fighting with the other rooster, or he could have had a heart attack. Difficult to know whether he was already unwell, and that was the reason the other rooster was able to win dominance, or if his death was the result of the fighting.

It is true that dethroned head roosters will experience a sort of depression that adversely affects their health. I've seen it many times. But it doesn't usually lead to death. And the thrashing before he passed suggests to me that something else was going on.

You may never have the answers. Sending in the bird for a necropsy might have provided the answer, but at this point it's too late for that. My advice is to keep a very close eye on your flock for signs of illness, just in case.

 

[Perris]

sorry for your loss Fuzzi; Joel was beautiful, and he'd not long reached maturity.

I'm afraid I can't help with identifying what caused his demise. Depression, collapse, and thrashing at death are common end points from lots of different start points and via lots of different routes.

I would keep a close eye on Samuel; I lost all three Penedesenca boys before they were 18 months old to some mysterious illness, while all three Penny girls were (and continue to be) fine; there are some diseases that impact one sex more than the other. Alternatively my three boys may have had a genetic flaw (I got them as hatching eggs and assume they were closely related). I'm guessing your speckled Sussexes all came from the same source?

 

[Shadrach]

Nothing to add to the above fuzzi apart from .

 

[fuzzi]

Fuzzy, I didn't know you had lost Joel. I am very sorry for your loss. I felt through your posts and pictures how fond of him you were.

But, I also remember the way things went for @Perris with Chirk, the senior rooster. When he was deposed he disappeared for several days and came back very sick. Perris first thought he had caught this while out but then realised maybe it could be the other way round : if he was weak and sick the junior rooster could have taken advantage of that to throw him out. So, I would not rule out that Joel had a health issue that made him weaker and Samuel felt this and turned on him.
I noticed you said he liked to nap. It seems to me this is rather unusual for a head rooster. Cockerels do nap and some quite a lot, but I get the impression once they feel they are looking over hens, they stop and actually rest very little as they stay on guard all the time.

My last comment is about the feathers coming off. This has happened to me the one time I euthanised a hen and she took a much longer time to die than I hoped. Her feathers fell all over the place. I have no idea if this is the sign of something in particular; it did not happen for the chickens I saw die from disease.

Again, please accept my sympathy. It must have been traumatic and sad to have him die in your arms, and not knowing what exactly happened is so difficult.

Thank you for your kind words.

After going over all my photos (I have a lot!) I'm thinking more that Joel had an underlying health issue. Neither cockerel showed any injury, and the day or two before Joel passed he and Samuel were side by side, checking out an extra feeder I'd created.

See how much smaller Joel looks compared to six weeks before? And his tail being curled over, stunted, not long as previously.

I think the feathers coming off in my hand shocked me the most. If Joel was already dying it makes sense that his feathers would come off easily.

Joel could have sustained a brain injury while fighting with the other rooster, or he could have had a heart attack. Difficult to know whether he was already unwell, and that was the reason the other rooster was able to win dominance, or if his death was the result of the fighting.

It is true that dethroned head roosters will experience a sort of depression that adversely affects their health. I've seen it many times. But it doesn't usually lead to death. And the thrashing before he passed suggests to me that something else was going on.

You may never have the answers. Sending in the bird for a necropsy might have provided the answer, but at this point it's too late for that. My advice is to keep a very close eye on your flock for signs of illness, just in case.

I'm watching them all very closely, everyone is active except Martha, who's gone broody

sorry for your loss Fuzzi; Joel was beautiful, and he'd not long reached maturity.

I'm afraid I can't help with identifying what caused his demise. Depression, collapse, and thrashing at death are common end points from lots of different start points and via lots of different routes.

I would keep a close eye on Samuel; I lost all three Penedesenca boys before they were 18 months old to some mysterious illness, while all three Penny girls were (and continue to be) fine; there are some diseases that impact one sex more than the other. Alternatively my three boys may have had a genetic flaw (I got them as hatching eggs and assume they were closely related). I'm guessing your speckled Sussexes all came from the same source?

Thanks. They were hatchmates from a breeder here in NC, but I don't know if their parents were the same.

Nothing to add to the above fuzzi apart from .

I appreciate it, and all the responses.

Joel was different from the other cockerels in his frequent napping, and his squinty eyes. And his legs were supposed to be white, but looked gray at times. He may have had some sort of internal defect that just didn't show. It is said that the first sign of heart disease is a fatal heart attack. I don't know much, but that makes sense to me.

He still managed to take charge over six other cockerels, before I rehomed five of them.

Thanks again for the input and sympathy. They certainly do find a way to get into our hearts.

 

[fuzzi]

How tragic and sad. My guess is that this may have something to do with the two roosters switching dominance roles. Two summers ago, something similar occurred with my two roosters. The younger roo thrashed the older one brutally, and exiled him.

It took me all day to find the exiled roo. When I brought him back, he was terrified to be near the younger roo that had beat him so badly. In fact, he wouldn't eat or even stay in the run unless I moved the now dominant roo out of it. It took me a couple of days of special treatment to restore this roo's self confidence so he would even eat. If I hadn't, chances are he would have starved to death.

That's what your description of your roo's final days sound like happened to him. He starved himself to death because he felt unworthy to exist after being vanquished by the other roo. This probably happens more than people realize, and only by intervening can such a rooster be saved from his self imposed fate.

You and others here have so much more experience than I, and I can't thank everyone enough for responding.

 

[The Chickens' Maid]

I agree that it sounds like an underlying health issue. I have kept multiple roosters together and had more than a few pecking order changes to deal with. Once they settled things, they were usually fine coexisting as long as the dominant roo wasn't a complete jerk. As far as the tail feathers, that could be due to natural molting and unrelated, given the time of year. It's more likely that he had the issue for much longer and that he was masking it. Since chickens are prey animals, they tend to mask weakness for a long time, so it can be difficult to spot when they first have a problem. Usually it's caught much later when it's serious and they can no longer mask it.

As far as the thrashing and feathers falling out when he passed, both of those things were likely due to the act of him passing rather than something else. When chickens are attacked or in distress, they lose feathers (another prey instinct, if they are caught by something the predator will sometimes come away with a mouthful of feathers). They also often thrash right at the moment of death, regardless of what caused it. I've had chickens pass from old age who one moment were sleeping peacefully and the next moment were thrashing violently, then they were gone.

I don't know what could have been the health problem with your little guy. I'm so sorry you had to go through this, it's never easy. For the rest of the flock, I can give suggestions on things to keep an eye out for that tend to cause lethargy:

mites (hard to spot unless you really examine the feathers close up routinely)
worms (also hard to spot, best to just worm regularly)
sour crop (infection in the crop)
respiratory diseases (you can put your ear to their back and listen for wheezing to check)
cold temps that are too much for the breed
hot temps that are too much for the breed
cat wounds (tend to be small but deep, hard to see)
intense bullying
genetic conditions (as you mentioned)

hope this helps!

 

[azygous]

What people mistake for a seizure is the chicken's nervous system shutting down immediately following the heart stopping. This can be scary, and not just to humans who observe this for the first time. I've had my flock refuse to enter the coop the next night following one of their mates dying during the night. It takes a lot of coaxing and bribing and calm reassuring words to get them in and to convince them the death monster is no longer hanging around.