The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Poultry & Waterfowl => Topic started by: blackbob on January 29, 2011, 01:19:43 pm
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Hello i have been a member of this site for a while but this is my first post. We have kept hens for a few years , but was puzzled to come home yesterday from work and find our buff orpington cock stiff on the path, he was 6 months old. After checking him over thouroughly could not find anything untoward. All other hens seem fine, he was fine yesterday morning, crowing and running around as per usuall. Have kept close eye on the hens since and all seems well. wonder if anyone has had a similar problem or shed some light! R I P Rock the cock!
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nothing to worry about unless others are showing signs of ill health. some birds do just die. at 6 months they are reaching sexual maturity it can be a big strain on them. we have had the odd cock die. it tends to be the best looking ones too.
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Sorry to hear that. Tricky to guess exactly why, other than a natural death:
Are the birds safe in a secure run?
If not, he could have been killed by a dog, even though no marks. Poultry will die of shock.
Poison?
Poultry will eat rats and mice that have eaten poison. They will also pick up and eat the poison itself.
Do you have any larger male fowl - geese or large breed ducks for example?
Amorous males will try to mate chickens and because of their size, they squash and suffocate smaller fowl.
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I had a 6 month old Orpy cock who did exactly the same thing! One minute fine, the next dead!
I think their large size puts an extra strain on their heart - it's apparently reasonably common for young orpys cocks to peg it like this. :-\
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how bizarre! we found one of ours dead this afternoon as well! a big bird and was also fine earlier today - or so we thought anyway. he was due for despatching tomorrow cos he was so big! and we have no idea what killed him either, rest of the birds were nowhere near him though something had clearly been pecking at his bright red comb - i think i read somewhere that hens are attracted to red/blood?
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since November i have lost about 5 birds, all young and (presumably) healthy birds, i have put them down to the severeness of the winter. including my spectacular young barnvelder cockeral!!!!! :'(
very sad when it happend but i suppose we cant dwell on it.
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Lost my RIR cockeral suddenly a few months ago. Mr Green, he was only two years old at most... Way before his time! :-( too much sex perhaps? Lucky him! What a way to go though!
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Might have been a heart attack was his waffles deep red or purple
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Is there any chance it could be a stoat or weasal? A few years ago we found our cockerel dead,then the day after a couple of hens. Found one of the hens had small puncture holes in her neck......pretty certain who was to blame.
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Chickens die from time to time. It's what they do. You could always take it to the vet and get them to do a post mortem. ::)
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Do you have any larger male fowl - geese or large breed ducks for example?
Amorous males will try to mate chickens and because of their size, they squash and suffocate smaller fowl.
Eeek! Going to have to watch out for that, as I caught our white peacock displaying to our light sussex bantam yesterday. The poor wee thing looked terrified, and no wonder frankly!! :o)
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I had the same thing happen to My Cornish Indian Game cockerel , he was an absolute beauty. One evening he was running back to the hut with the others when he saw me start to do the rounds but by the time I got inside the hut he was breathing his last!!!! I think he had a heart attack and have been told pedigrees are prone to them more than crosses. It has taken me more than a year to get another up here so this one when grown will be in a run with his girls so no sprinting over a five acre field for this one.
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reminds me 30years ago Dave lee Travis had a sunday chart show on radio he came on laughing and could not speak for laughing after about 30minutes he told on air that one of his geese fancied one of his ducks and trod the duck to death it does happen
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I had exactly the same last month, my Gold Laced Orpington flock had just got to maturity, the hens started to lay and the cockerel keeled over and died!! I have kept a number of chickens over the years, both raised by myself or bought as youngsters and this does happen!!
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we have had one auracana drop down dead for no apparent reason lately. It is interesting to read the comments about pure breeds as I did wonder if they aren't as hardy. As for your cock Kev, it could be a heart attack, he was a big boy and lots of garden to run round in and lots of ladies to choose from :wave:
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Interesting to read about all these dead cockerels... and all of them traditional pure breeds... one thought just occurred to me: All these breeds were developed BEFORE the advent of properly mixed poultry feed, often given now ad lib.... maybe these cockerels are just a wee bit too large for their (traditional) heart size? In older times nobody used to actually feed the hens, they got leftovers (if the dogs didn't get there first) and a handful of corn in the evenings... they had to scratch and run around the farmyard for their grub... so maybe one explanation is that we all (including myself, though no dead cockerel here recently) keep our hens too well nowadays?
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Do you have any larger male fowl - geese or large breed ducks for example?
Amorous males will try to mate chickens and because of their size, they squash and suffocate smaller fowl.
my drakes would never go for a chicken! Although they are quite a bit smaller - the respect is huge ;D ;D
Regarding the sudden deaths - could they still have been a bit anemic from last year's mite infestation? I take it most of us had the problem at some point? I heard that this can happen.
shame you didn't get your sunday roast yesterday, Laura! Maybe he knew about your plans and died of fear ! :&>