Rooster dead over night

[A Swede in France]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if you have any ideas about the death of my rooster, Goldie. He was an 11 month old Appelzeller. Yesterday afternoon, I thought he looked a bit droopy but he was still eating and drinking and mounting hens so I just kept an eye on him. By bedtime, I was sure he was sick. He was still moving around but not his usual self, and took pauses to stand and puff his feathers and close his eyes for a moment or two. Poops looked small and greenish but firm - I would say within the normal range. This was at 8 pm yesterday. I tried to feed him some scrambled eggs with lots of garlic and herbs, but he was 100% not interested, which had me worried. He was still walking fine, flying to his high perch. After he went to sleep, we went out to check on him and to give him some antibiotics diluted with yoghurt and water - a low dose of trimethoprim sulfa which is what's used where we live. We did it in case he was coming down with coccidosis. Maybe overkill, but we lost a young bird to it once and it was horrendous so we wanted to take action. He drank and behaved as one would expect an energetic rooster would in the situation. We put him back in his coop - where we found him dead at 6 am this morning. There was one poop where he had slept - also greenish and on closer inspection quite mucousy, but the poop itself firm. Goldie looks normal, no swelling, discharge, or wounds. The night was mild.

What do you think happened?

We have had a hedgehog come visit for a week - could he have caught something from the hog?

We introduced Goldie to new hens just a few days ago, but they had already been with is for 6 weeks, in quarantine for two of those, and living with our other girls until now without problems.

Last fall, Golidi was really sick with a respiratory infection and it was touch and go if he would make it. His breathing has been a bit raspy since then but beyond that he recovered fully (thank you antibiotics there too, but a different kind)

I'm very grateful for any insight you might have. I am now burying my sweet beautiful Rooster and desinfecting his coop, and keeping a very close eye on the girls, all of whom look ok this morning

 

[Awestruck]

I started off with 8 chickens, 6 years ago. 6 of them died (1 per year) and I never knew what they died from. Sometimes, they would get sick and just die. Sometimes, they would get well and then die like a month later. My rooster was the most puzzling. He was fine in the morning when I let the chickens out. I went out in the early afternoon and it was quiet. The rooster was very noisy but I didn't hear him. I checked around the yard and found him dead. There was no clue he was sick. We have no idea of what he died from, whereas with the girls, they were sick before they died.
So sorry about your rooster. Mine was mean, but I miss hearing him crow.

 

[A Swede in France]

I started off with 8 chickens, 6 years ago. 6 of them died (1 per year) and I never knew what they died from. Sometimes, they would get sick and just die. Sometimes, they would get well and then die like a month later. My rooster was the most puzzling. He was fine in the morning when I let the chickens out. I went out in the early afternoon and it was quiet. The rooster was very noisy but I didn't hear him. I checked around the yard and found him dead. There was no clue he was sick. We have no idea of what he died from, whereas with the girls, they were sick before they died.
So sorry about your rooster. Mine was mean, but I miss hearing him crow.

Thank you They are mysterious creatures and hide their pain and illness. We started a year ago with week old babies and have now lost three, one to a predator, one to coccidiosis, and now Goldie. It's hard! I just hope they have the best possible chicken life while they are with me, and that I do the right things and what I can to help them when they are not well.

 

[A Swede in France]

Here is a picture of his last poop. Definitely full of mucous. I didn't react much to the green because they free-range, but that's maybe green enough to be bile.

 

[A Swede in France]

And here some shots of Goldie enjoying life, because he was such a handsome and fun guy

 

[Awestruck]

Thank you They are mysterious creatures and hide their pain and illness. We started a year ago with week old babies and have now lost three, one to a predator, one to coccidiosis, and now Goldie. It's hard! I just hope they have the best possible chicken life while they are with me, and that I do the right things and what I can to help them when they are not well.

I do give mine Nutri Drench in their water occasionally. If I see they are sick, I give them Corid. I just put a little in their water. It seems to help. I got mine from Amazon.

 

[A Swede in France]

I do give mine Nutri Drench in their water occasionally. If I see they are sick, I give them Corid. I just put a little in their water. It seems to help. I got mine from Amazon.

Thank you! I'll see if I can get some here

 

[BastyPutt]

Quite the beautiful place you have there! And he was also very beautiful, and looks incredibly healthy. When was that picture taken?

Boy, that is a very strange poop. If bile is present, that typically means that he wasn't eating, which is consistent with what you said. A chicken needs food to "use" their bile.

because of how sudden everything happened, and you don't see blood or intenstinal shedding in the poop, I'd say there is a chance he maybe ate something that was potentially toxic to him?

Did you happen to ever feel his crop? If so, was it empty? Full? Hard or squishy?

 

[A Swede in France]

Quite the beautiful place you have there! And he was also very beautiful, and looks incredibly healthy. When was that picture taken?

Boy, that is a very strange poop. If bile is present, that typically means that he wasn't eating, which is consistent with what you said. A chicken needs food to "use" their bile.

because of how sudden everything happened, and you don't see blood or intenstinal shedding in the poop, I'd say there is a chance he maybe ate something that was potentially toxic to him?

Did you happen to ever feel his crop? If so, was it empty? Full? Hard or squishy?

Thank you! The photo with the Polish girl is from the day before yesterday.

And I totally forgot to check his crop before burying him. Mistake!

The last thing I saw him eat was some bread in the afternoon, from my hand. He drank later than that. He was in his enclosure until late afternoon and I don't think he had access to anything the others didn't, nor to anything new. Just pellets and grains. It rained so maybe he drank some contaminated water from a little tray we sometimes give treats in, that they tend to walk in so it could have been poopy and filled with water. Not the most hygienic Or the poop of the hedgehog.

It's so hard when beings in our care die. They depend on us so much for their quality of life, it's a big responsibility.

Maybe I can add that we give them all a natural dewormer every month.

 

[BastyPutt]

Maybe I can add that we give them all a natural dewormer every month.

Gosh that is just so crazy! He looks absolutely excellent in that picture.

Aside from the condition of his crop, I am not sure what else to off. I suppose the important thing is to protect the rest of the flock, which it seems like you have a great start.

We are about as homeopathic as they come with our flock. Zero antibiotics ever, and nothing that doesn't come naturally from our beautiful Earth are ever ingested by the birds With that said, we have tried countless natural dewormers with no luck - I can say most of them being sold as such are snake oil. However, ever since once case, about 8 years ago, we have never had worm issue or any kind of gut problem in a single chicken ... and at that time we starting supplement their feed and that I 100% believe has "hardened" the chickens digestive system

These suggestions are HIGHLY contested here on BYC, on every thread I post them As is my forward prior to posting - I have zero scientific evidence this works, just experience. If youd like try it, excellent : ) If not, excellent as well. There are in fact plenty of conventional methods that work well, are easier and just as fine.

- we feed fermented food 3 times a week, approx 3 cups per chicken per week. I believe this acts a preventative. This is the same feed we give free choice throughout the week, just fermented. The love it, it is like a snack to them.
- we also give them atleast 1/2 gallon of raw cows or goats milk discard on Wednesdays, plus more throughout the week - probably totaling 1 gallon for 50 chickens. The discard being what is excreted from the utters when you are clearing them before hooking up your milking machine, or going into the bucket. I find this bit of the milk to be loaded with clostrum and all sorts of wonderful things. Because it can be a diarrhetic, I believe this "cleans" them out, including harmful bacteria.
- Lastly, we feed 10 lbs of field pea, wheat and sunflower fodder twice a week. Like you, we also have a lot of pasture for them to roam, but we find the dense nutrients in the fodder to not only be preferred by the chickens, but give a huge blast of condensed greens.