Dead cockerel - previously too active ??

[Franglais]

Hi
I am totally new to this forum so thank you in advance to anyone answering questions for me.
4 years ago I was given 12 chickens about 2 years old in age all laying fine and everything hunky dory laying 6-10 eggs daily between them,
I added 4 white sussex to the gang, pretty young 3months old and they are also fine now settled in and laying well,in that time 3 of the original chickens died for no apparent reason the old owner mentioned to me thet it could be old age so i lived with that,
more strangely I was given a cockerel last year a big chap about 1 year old and very active with all the females,after a really cold spell last winter all the females survived yet one morning i found the cockerel dead and just wonder what went wrong he wasnt attacked by anything and i cant put it down to the cold because the females seemed ok and it was around a week or so after the cold spell went.
My neighbours were also really suprised with him looking so healthy.I feel a bit guilty really but just wonder If anyone else has ever had one so young die for no apparent reason.
A bit daft but I wonder If he was too active and tired hinself out maybe a heart attack if that could happen lol.

[Feral007]

I'm trying so hard not to chuckle When I read a dead cockerel that's too active - I had to come in here to see how active a dead cockerel was meant to be. Sorry no help to you, but you gave me a smile over lunch.

[Nicos]

Hi there- and welcome to the Vine!

Sorry to hear you have lot a good cockerel.
Not really sure whether over activity is likely to kill him- I suppose there's always the possibility..but I do wonder whether he was actually covering all the gals?
I have 2 boys ( brothers) free ranging with 14 gals and occasionally find an unfertilized egg amongst a clutch we've been trying to hatch.

I have however had 3 very healthy ( apparently) hens over the years drop dead over the 3 years I've kept chooks all of which were under 3 years old.

What breed was he?
I bought some 'fatteners'- enormous grey speckled things from market- and they had clearly been interbred to achieve the size. One turned out to be a gal so we kept her for egg laying.(Most of her eggs weighed about 100g.) We finally had to cull her as she had several genetic problems which only gradually appeared over the year. One being heart failure. What I'm wondering was, perhaps he was a bit interbred?
Or - alternatively maybe he just had a stroke?
These things do happen- and I'm sure you shouldn't be feeling guilty. Here in France it seems to me that 'survival of the fittest' seems to apply to livestock even more so than in the UK!!

[alldigging]

Just how surprised was this neighbour?

Had it annoyed anyone near by?

[Snadger]

Cockerels are more prone to the cold than hens as their wattles work as a heat dissipator in summer but in winter they can get frostbite in them. Mine also roost outdoors (Guarding their flock?) whereas the laydees have more sense and roost inside the coop.
From my limited experience of cockerels they seem to live longer then hens overall but I have, as with some hens had one 'Pop its clogs' for no apparent reason.
If it WAS because of his sexual exploits.................at least he died happy!

[Franglais]

I'm trying so hard not to chuckle When I read a dead cockerel that's too active - I had to come in here to see how active a dead cockerel was meant to be. Sorry no help to you, but you gave me a smile over lunch.

Lol I was going to title the thread Cockerel humped himself to death but with me being a newbie i thought i would be thrown out quickly

[Franglais]

Just how surprised was this neighbour?

Had it annoyed anyone near by?

No I also thought down that route but i asked all my neighbours before I brought him here and they were all really please s they hadny heard one for years also i thought the others would have died if they had poisoned him

[Franglais]

He was a Maran pure bred (I think) but i have just been told that cocks are more prone to the cold than females which I never knew I thought with there build they would be really hardy so i have learnt something new already not that I knew much anyway lol

[Franglais]

Sorry i should have titled dead cockerel too active before he died maybe ?? lol, the more i read the title the more i laugh it was early this morning when I posted so that`s my excuse.

[Feral007]

No, really I loved seeing the title, made my day!

[petal]

well, we had a cock that dies from a stroke.....

[Glutton4...]

I had a Cockerel just pop off for no reason. He was the one that I had 'helped' to hatch, he was the last and the smallest, but you wouldn't have known he was different by the time they were all feathered. I have also had Hens drop dead with no warning, too. Funny fings, chooks.

Welcome to the Madhouse, by the way!

[petal]

We had 3 growers drop dead during a very loud, frightening thunder storm this week- wierd or what!