Young roo dies out of nowhere. Ideas? Steps to take?

[frankcassiesmom]

Hey. I used to be a member at the other board years ago and am just transferring over. Anyways, after a two year hiatus from chickens we are starting over.

About 5 weeks ago we bought some 4-5 week old White Rock chicks. So they're about 9-10 weeks old now. No one has been having ANY symptoms at all. They have been all very active, eating, drinking, etc. It's not been THAT hot here (it can get HOT hot). I'd say 80s. They have ample shade, coop, run and access to chick starter and water.

This morning my son went and checked on the chickens. He does a head count every morning and tends to sit and watch the chickens for a bit. So I trust his saying they were all alright. But they definitely were went we went to bed. A couple hours later I go in and the rooster is just dead. No sign of anything. I checked him over head to toe and can't see any visible signs of a reason for his death.

So.... questions. Any ideas on what it could be? And in case of sickeness what steps to take to try and keep it from being a HUGE problem? We do have 10 chicks and 6 keets on the front porch waiting for their new tractors and I am really concerned about sickness. My husband is bringing home terramyacin when he comes home from work. I figure I should put everyone on it for a bit just in case. I'm about to go out and put vitamins and electrolytes in all the waterers. Everyone is instructed to wash their hands when out by ANY of the chick pens/cages. Aside from that, is there anything else I should do to try and prevent a spread if it is disease? And any suggestions on what might be the cause of the death would be very helpful. I'd hate after just moving back to the country for the kids to have to deal with all their chicks dying . Oy.

Thanks in advance.
Kim

 

[4H kids and mom]

Is there any possibility you can take the bird in for a necropsy to find out why it died? Its usually not too expensive, and could save you from over-medicating your healthy flock if his death was just a fluke. What breed was he? My ideas that come to mind would be the heat (even though its only 80s it gets MUCH hotter in a locked up tight coop) or stress from something maybe? If everyone has been otherwise healthy up until this point, I really don't think it would be an illness, or you'd see some kind of symptoms, and notice them in your other birds as well. Plus, a 5-6 week incubation for an illmess, just isn't that common, so I'm really not leaning towards his death being due to a sickness. But, I would be interested to know what a necropsy would say, or others oppinions.

 

[eggcetra_farms]

You know, I really think animals have the same problems humans do... They can have heart attacks, strokes, etc. Sometimes an animal will just suddenly die. Unless more start to die, I would think this is isolated. It sounds to me that you're doing everything right. Just keep an eye on them. Good luck with your babies!

 

[panner123]

Before you go starting the meds, you might look for a snake. Sometimes they will kill a chicken, then find out they can't eat it. A snake will leave no outward signs of injury.

 

[dlhunicorn]

get a necropsy done before you start on medication for the flock...I think this would be unwise as considering the breed I believe it is cardiac related...it is called sudden death and here is an article about it reviewing various causes:
http://www.thepoultrysite.com/diseaseinfo/146/sudden-death-syndrome-flipover