Thursday, April 29, 2010

Why?

When I went to let the chickens out this morning, my rooster was dead! Dead dead, as in stiff and cold dead. I wonder why he died? The only thing that I noticed different, and I'm not sure if it was really different was that yesterday, the hens were pecking the ground and he was laying down. (Sitting?) But I have seen them all do that at one time or another. Last night when I did the final animal check and closed up all the doors, I noticed that the rooster was again laying away from the hens, but again, I have seen them all, at one time or another not cuddled up with the group.

I checked his body out. I could not see any wounds, or damage, just a dead chicken. Maybe he was old? I had them for about a month now and they all seemed to be healthy, active chickens.

Which bring me to tell you that I'm going to another small animal swap on Saturday. I guess besides looking for more hens I will now also be looking for a rooster.

8 comments:

  1. That is odd. I wonder if he ate something in your yard that's not good for them? Or if he suffered from some kind of stress. He could have been kicked by a goat, that could cause some damage to a bird.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Maybe the hens wore him out and you need two roosters?!?!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's weird.

    Why do you want a rooster? Do you want to raise your own chicks at some point?

    ReplyDelete
  4. do an autopsy. See if you find anything that looks odd.

    ReplyDelete
  5. It could be one of a million things and unless you actually send him for an autopsy, just chalk it up to experience and get a new rooster.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ok Harvey, what did you do? Scare the death out of the rooster??? Make sure Harvey or any other type of animals are getting in or around the shed where the animals live. Poor rooster, I feel really bad.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Bummer Krissy. We could do an autopsy if you were interested. The kids would think it was fun.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I agree with Lisa. It could be a million things with the least likely being Harvey scaring him to death. He could have picked something up at the swap place. He could have ate something bad, he could have been old (though they usually look kinda raggedy in that case)...

    Without a necropsy, you won't really know. So, the real question is, do you want to pay for one? And does it really matter that much to you?

    Crochet Lady- Roosters also are good at protecting their flock, especially when hens are allowed to free range. I have a rooster for just such a purpose.

    ReplyDelete