droopy comb-dead rooster

[marinestudies]

my daughter noticed that her bantam roosters comb was droopy this morning and he was slightly lethargic, still walking around, just not as active as usual. I thought maybe he was molting, but he was dead by the afternoon. no other symptoms were noticed. any ideas? all the other chickens seem healthty but we did add another chicken a week ago in a separate enclosure but within the coop.

[crazychick]

Two things could have happened here. If it wasn't for the new chicken that was added, I would suspect that your rooster had an aortic rupture (or slow leak that turned into a rupture). I had a rooster die in a similar way- off his feed and lethargic for about 6 hours, then dead by evening. He must have had a tear in his aorta that leaked for a while, then did him in by the end of the day....

The fact that you got a new chicken and added it to your flock makes me nervous, though... DId you get the new one from a breeder or from an auction? The rest of your flock has access through the wire to this new guy? I would be concerned enough to get a post mortem on the banty rooster so that you can confirm how he died (cancer, heart attack, aortic rupture etc) and thus rule out something contagious that the new one is carrying. A week to 10 days is a typical incubation period for several diseases...

Laura

[Sandy]

Can you also tell us what you feed the birds.. everything you feed them please

Also what your weather has been like

And if you noticed the birds droppings the day before it died..what did they look like.. color and consistency please

Any feed fallen onto the ground that might have gone off or started to go moldy

Any chance that the rooster got into an open bag of weed killer... snail bait... or rat bait or anthing else that is laying around open that he may have had a peck of

Any old cars near by ... batteries sitting outside... anti freeze on the ground?

Just throwing in a few things here just in case something takes your eye and you recognize it as a potential hazard ok

[marinestudies]

the rooster was not outside, just in the coop and run. the new chicken was from a breeder and is in a cage, up high. all the chikens get layer pellets which they go through pretty quick and have not been moldy. I have noticed that sometimes the chickens have runny stools, yellow. I have never wormed them. they are about 1 1/2 years old and some are 3 months. I live in new england, US. I am going to a feed store today to get wormer. I noticed that some wormer is for roundworms only but ivermectin treats several kinds. what kind is recomended? thanks. Lee

[Sandy]

If you can afford the Ivermectin... that is a good choice

Later down the track pick up the Piperazine also... as using just one sort of wormer it stops working on the birds