Why Did My Rooster Die?

[fuzzi]

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.

Okay, this makes a lot of sense. His struggle to stand, walk, then falling over. It was immediately after his falling over that he started thrashing around.

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.

This also fits the situation. Thanks.

And I will keep a closer watch on the rest of them.