I Caponized! ***Graphic Pics*** Not For Faint of Heart.

If I could find a way to make this painless for the chicken (either local or general anesthesia), I would consider this if I found the effects to be very useful either in meat birds or pet birds (may help reduce the need to rehome roos). I'm not squeamish about blood and guts, but I would not be able to do this on a fully awake chick or chicken. Thanks for posting about this though, your instructions are very detailed and helpful.

My partidge rock rooster is a big rooster if this makes them grow faster and thicker you will have a nice chicken dinner from those roos.

I am really thinking about trying this on the extra roos….but I need more information, did you have a guide to use, or some inspiring article? You have great pics but I am wondering how to flip them when you say flip them over and do the other side.

Funny…I was showing my husband your article hoping he would want to volunteer to do the deed, but he didn’t bite!

Thanks for looking into this touchy but important topic, caponizing seems like a good way to increase feed to meat conversion in tight monetary times.

Thanks…Sherielu

I operate on my birds on top of a plastic milk crate. I put zip-ties around their legs and around the tops of their wings, then use bungee cords to stretch them out and hold them steady. I also put a small sock over their heads, so in the dark they are more calm. When I've finished on one side, cut/removed/glued or stitched the incision, I loosen the bungee cords and just turn them over onto their other side and reattatch the bungees.

I think the best way to lessen the pain is to be sure & quick about it. The ones I've done only protest when they're having their feathers removed from the incision site (it's really only a few, it's a rather bare spot anyway) and when the first initial incision is made. After that they just lie still and give you the stink eye.

I think I’ve figured it out! I printed out the Sears and Roebuck Instruction book along with the wonderful photos. I now understand that the bird is lying on its side, at first I thought it was spread eagle on its back.

I hope the first few will forgive me….I think there will be a learning curve.

I’ve seen in another post that there was no size difference of butchered capon vs rooster…I wonder what other people’s experiences have been. Does the butchered bird have to be older for this to pay off?

BTW my husband still wants nothing to do with chicken surgery!

Thanks for the info,
Sherielu

There should be a noticeable difference in size. But it depends on how young you caponize. That's the catch for me, because the younger the cockerel the more difficult it is to operate upon. But the older the cockerel the less difference it makes in their finished size.

Quote:
You should be able to tell the ovary even at that young age. Very interesting. Your little home surgery starts out exactly like the one for sexing parrots. Nowadays, most people use DNA feather sexing, but if you are buying breeding birds, it's still very helpful to know the exact state of the ovaries in a hen. Normal ovaries will look somewhat like a cluster of grapes. Older hens will have lots of little "scars" or empty places instead of full "clusters". In sexing surgery, we just insert an otoscope head and have a close look. The vet I worked for would put one stitch in between the ribs, then close with vet bond (super-glue). And our birds were anesthetized as well.

So, at what age do you cull the caponized roo? Does it not really matter because it won't get tough and stringy as I have heard older roos described ? We have yet to cull a hen or roo but we are getting ready to caponize 4 roos---or so we think are roos. In general---at 3-4 wks old do the roos have shorter tail feathers? And the comb turning reddish orange and being pretty prominent (looks like the one in the first picture on 1st page) indicative of being roo? I have 5 chicks that will be 4 wks old tomorrow and 4 of them have that same comb and shorter tail feathers than #5. #5 has no comb. My hens are RIR's, B orp, Americauna, and white leghorns. My grown roos are Americauna and RIR so likely none are pure. #5 looks like Americauna.

Back to my original question---should I cull a capon before a certain age?

This forum is THE BEST. The illustrated pics for caponizing are fantastic!! Thank you---thank you---thank you!!!! Got my hubby all ready to caponize this week sometime!!

Thanks for sharing. I have never seen that done, and never want to attempt that one either ; )

I WANT PICTURES!!! At this point, you should have some really nice size capons. The suspense is killing me... Did they survive? Did they grow to a big size? Have you processed and eaten them yet???

I just watched the Hy Line video a few weeks ago and with 2 million chicks killed every year, I had to think caponizing would be a better alternative. It seems such a waste that the hatcheries kill all the chicks and the capons are supposed to be more supple and delicious than the Cornish x.

As for those who oppose the process, here are two questions... Is it better to just cull your rooster chicks (even to the point of Hy Line and other hatcheries?) or is it better to use them to make a meat bird? If you have ever raised the Cornish x you know how gross and disgusting that breed is. YUCK! I want nothing to do with them! But, the heritage really take a LONG time to raise to eating size unless you like 2 lb birds.

We are not going to stop eating meat as a society so this sounds like a great plan. Also, instead of using fancy antibiotics, honey would probably do the trick without all the chemical issues... honey is a natural antibiotic used since ancient Egyptian times.

Dave