Caponizing?

[Capn]

I am wondering if anyone knows of a vet in the Salt Lake City, UT area that will caponize a chicken? We have one that appears to be a rooster as it's growing up and we are not allowed to have roosters in our area.

I have also heard that they often do not crow if done at a young age. Does anyone know if this is true?

 

[cavemanrich]

It is done at 3 to 5 weeks. and they will not crow, but they also will not look like roosters of the variety they would grow to be. It is not a pretty procedure that is done live with no anesthesia. If all of the testicle is not removed than it is not a success. There are 2 , procedure is done on each side. For the sake of the bird, try to re home him to a place that roosters are allowed. If you want capon meat than do it to it. It is much less effort to raise broilers than to go thru canonizing the cockerels.


AND

 

[Fancychooklady]

I'd have to agree with , ' rehoming ' , if not perhaps you could give a ' rooster collar ' a go. Some people have had success with them.

 

[Capn]

We have a black cochin bantam, cutest thing ever! It's our favorite chicken. It will let the kids hold and pet it. I'm not completely sure yet it's a rooster, but sure looks like it's developing into one, will watch and see. Plus it grew up with the other three we have. I'd sure hate to get rid of it if there is another option but caponizing does sound pretty invasive from what I've read.

 

[collie1470]

There is an awesome thread on calonizong in the Meat birds ETC section.

It's there because it's primarily for meat production. However, just like removing testosterone from any developing male animal, it can help limit or even prevent some male tendencies (since the testosterone is what drives them). It's my understanding that once a behavior has already started, it won't be stopped, though the frequency may, or may not, drop. Most of the people who caponize seem to recommend keeping capons seperate from both hens and intact roosters, as they tend to be picked on.

 

[collie1470]

I've been researching into it a lot, so we can raise our boys to adulthood before we eat them....instead of culling them and getting almost nothing out of them.

Because we are also looking for meat, it's worthwhile to learn the procedure. But it's hard to learn, and takes a lot of practice befire you get even somewhat proficient, because the testicles are right next to the renal arteries, and if you knick those, bye-bye birdy

It's generally recommended to practice on several culled cockerels of the approximate age you will be caponizing the living bird (s) at.

 

[Capn]

Thank you all for the information and advice. I think we'll just wait and see. If it starts crowing, i guess we'll have to re-home. I know we will find someone to take it pretty easily as it's sure a cute little thing.