Sad, Sad, Sad ... RIP Herman the House Rooster

[MROO]

I am SO sad, right now. We just lost Herman the House Rooster!

It looks like this crazy, wet, up-and-down-temp Winter has finally caught up with us, here in Maryland. Despite the elevation of his run, every time it deluged, here (and it deluged a LOT this winter,) Herman's run would muck up. We were constantly shifting bedding and replacing pine bark and shavings to keep him and his young bachelor flock dry and healthy. I don't know what happened over the last three or four days, other than a warming trend and a lot of wind, but we've lost three out of five roosters in one run. We lost the first one last week, but he was never really a strong bird and the winter's been hard on him, so we weren't terribly surprised. Herman and Sesame were different. They seemed okay yesterday morning, but shut down some time during the day ... and now they're both gone.

The remaining two are fine and feisty - so much so that DD can't catch General Tso to dose him with Corid. The two we just lost weren't underweight. They weren't coughing or sneezing and there was no hint of breathing issues. They were both active up until the very last. I'm not seeing bloody stool (it's hard to see in their dark bedding,) but we're dosing for coccidiosis, anyway. We've fought it before and the conditions were certainly ripe for it. The five fellas were nearby but not in contact with the other two pens, but we're dosing the whole flock with Corid. I really wanted to send a bird out for testing, but DD has already buried them. She is heartbroken. Herman was her boy.

So ends the saga of Herman the House Rooster. I guess I'll have to go in and edit his article, now. Yes, he did finally find his place in a flock. Yes, he finally figured out that he was a "real chicken" - and has two beautiful offspring to prove it. And yes, he leaves a huge, Silkie shaped hole in our hearts. Rest in Peace, my Melancholy Rooster.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/is-there-a-rooster-in-the-house.74089/

 

[N F C]

So sorry for your losses I hope it helps that you have some of Herman's offspring.

 

[Shadrach]

I hope you can establish the cause of death MROO.
Terrible to lose one, let alone two.

 

[TwoCrows]

Oh gosh, I am so sorry you lost both of them. This must be quite hard on your heart, and I do hope your heavy heart heals soon.

 

[cluckmecoop7]

 

[MROO]

So sorry for your losses I hope it helps that you have some of Herman's offspring.

Thanks. It does. We have one very pretty pullet from him and our New Hampshire Red hen, GinnyRon. Her brother - a gorgeous cockerel of the same breeding - now has his own little flock with a friend, so in a way, Herman lives on. I sure will miss that deep, mournful crow of his, though. He positively "rumbled!"

 

[MROO]

I hope you can establish the cause of death MROO.
Terrible to lose one, let alone two.

Yup, me too! We plan to take their original run down to bare dirt tomorrow and give it a good scrubbing. Maybe we'll find some clues, then.
The two remaining roos, both Nankins, are in quarantine on my front porch. They're in a large rabbit hutch, where we can easily catch the younger stinker to dose him each day. We really need to keep an eye on that one. He's the best male we've bred, to date, and I'd hate to lose him. If it's not an environmental issue, I don't want to breed him ... but he's SO nice!
Thanks for the "hugs!"

 

[drumstick diva]

I hope and pray, that is the last of the losses you have to bear, for a long time.

 

[MROO]

I hope and pray, that is the last of the losses you have to bear, for a long time.

Thanks! Me, too! Hopefully the Corid and a good clean-out will both do the trick and solve the mystery. If not, I guess I'll be biting my nails for awhile ...

 

[MROO]

I hope you can establish the cause of death MROO.
Terrible to lose one, let alone two.

Yup, me too! We plan to take their original run down to bare dirt tomorrow and give it a good scrubbing. Maybe we'll find some clues, then.

Well, nothing obvious showed up in the clean-out, other than the usual springtime mite issues. It wasn't awful, just there. Back-tracking to about the time the first young roo died, the only change I can think of is a new bag of pine-bark mulch added to the run. I didn't see anything in the stuff we cleaned out, but I left it deep-piled in a shady, far corner of the garden so I could do a mold-check. We're due for a couple of days of really nice weather (60's ... finally ... hooray!) so we'll see what, if anything, develops.

The remaining two roosters from that run remain fat and sassy ... although they're definitely complaining about the confines of the front porch. I'll be happy when their run is fully dried out and finished. We're taking this opportunity to do some maintenance and maybe an upgrade. I'd really like to put in a proper dust-bath that won't get wet when it rains. The current plan is to get them back out there just as the Corid treatment ends for everybody.

There is one, tiny bright spot in losing Herman. The four older boys in my first bachelor run picked on him mercilessly, which is why we divided the run in the first place. Now that he's gone (Zheesh, I can't even type that line without my stomach knotting up,) maybe all six boys - and possibly one more, if I pull the younger roo in the main coop - can all live together in Frat House harmony ... fingers crossed ...