GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[glacierridge]

    At the local Safeway, and QFC grocery stores Iowa capons are 8 pounds at $3.49 per pound. Prior to making our own we would purchase these. The very best of a commercial bird.

    As to the size of backyard capons unless your filling them with rocks or altering the scales, you will be hard pressed to achieve a live wieght of 10 pounds even at nine months.  Check the top SOP wieghts of the breeds your using for your capons, keeping in mind the full term wieght is for a 12 month old cock.  You will only exceed 10 pounds with the larger breeds, and only with exhibition or show stock.  I have done numerous breeds, mostly large varieties and have never had a bird exceed 10 pounds live. (Birds are usually processed here by the 28th week)  Our service cock is a bit over 11 pounds, but he is two years old.

Eventually I will be using Bielefelder and Niederrheiner spares. I think those are gonna get pretty large
Happy thanksgiving

 

[Poco Pollo]

I've placed the order for tools. I should have confirmation of purchase in the form of photographs soon. It takes about a week or so after that to get the tools to me for repackaging and shipping within the United States.

CAPON VIDEO NEWS: I'm getting a USB endoscope video camera. It will take a week for delivery, and then I'll need to learn how to use it. Endoscope video cameras are used in surgery and in the inspection of pipes and inside walls. The camera is waterproof, so I ought to be able to disinfect it and use it touching or inside the incision site. This may also solve the problem of hands getting in the way of the camera. If the camera is at or just inside the incision, then only the tools will pass in front of it during surgery.

Someone asked me recently if capons have nice feathers. Many of my capons are employed on the farm as bug eaters, so they may look a little rough. No pampering for the free-range group. Here's Jack. He's a Crested Cream Legbar Sport capon. Carrying him is like lifting a big sack of rice. He's heavy

 

[Beer can]

I've placed the order for tools. I should have confirmation of purchase in the form of photographs soon. It takes about a week or so after that to get the tools to me for repackaging and shipping within the United States. [COLOR=222222]CAPON VIDEO NEWS: I'm getting a USB endoscope video camera. It will take a week for delivery, and then I'll need to learn how to use it. Endoscope video cameras are used in surgery and in the inspection of pipes and inside walls. The camera is waterproof, so I ought to be able to disinfect it and use it touching or inside the incision site. This may also solve the problem of hands getting in the way of the camera. If the camera is at or just inside the incision, then only the tools will pass in front of it during surgery. [/COLOR] [COLOR=222222]Someone asked me recently if capons have nice feathers. Many of my capons are employed on the farm as bug eaters, so they may look a little rough. No pampering for the free-range group. Here's Jack. He's a Crested Cream Legbar Sport capon. Carrying him is like lifting a big sack of rice. He's heavy [/COLOR]

Looking forward to seeing that. They make some nice cameras now, seems everyone is hooked on their phone camera nowadays... I'd love to get a 'GoPro'. Watched some YouTube vids recently that had cameras attached to the scopes of air rifles, not only could the screen on the camera be used for aiming with the crosshairs, but they took awesome vids with great slow motion.

 

[Poco Pollo]

For those who ordered tools: I just got confirmation that all items have been purchased and packed. They should ship tomorrow. I'll update again as soon as the package is here in Oklahoma.

 

[Little Fuzzy]

Yes and if I wanted a pet Roo I would take it to the vet, just because people want bigger meat birds doesn't justify the pain. People still justify Bull fighting too!

 

[Kusanar]

Yes and if I wanted a pet Roo I would take it to the vet, just because people want bigger meat birds doesn't justify the pain. People still justify Bull fighting too!

What do you expect the vet to do? Birds don't handle pain meds or anesthesia well, taking them to the vet is more dangerous for the bird.

 

[Poco Pollo]

Yes and if I wanted a pet Roo I would take it to the vet, just because people want bigger meat birds doesn't justify the pain. People still justify Bull fighting too!

In agriculture, a castrated bull is a steer, a castrated goat is a wether, a castrated pig is a barrow, and a castrated cockerel is a capon. These farm animals are castrated to improve meat quality. We (farmers) raise these farm animals for human consumption. Capons, raised on pasture and prepared with soaked corn, milk, yogurt, and fresh fruits and vegetables before slaughter are highly nutritious and delicious. If the local market sold meat from a bull, billy, boar, or rooster, customers would bring it back complaining that it was too tough and stringy to eat. Many would complain that the meat has a strong, unpleasant flavor.

I can't follow your bullfighting analogy. Where is the similarity or comparability of the two topics? Caponizing is a farming practice, and the objective is to end with a live chicken. Caponizing is common practice in China and the UK. The practice is being revived here in the United States.

Bullfighting is a blood sport, or an art form, depending on which side you choose. If the first matador is not able to kill the bull, a second matador will enter the ring and finish the job. After the bullfight, the bull is butchered and sold in the market, but he's not going to be nearly as tender as a steer. It's admirable that he's used as food, but the spectacle, the ceremonious battle between man and beast, is what brings people to see a bullfight. One must travel out of the United States to see a bullfight. Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador still have bullfighting. There are probably other places.

The pain experienced by a chicken during caponizing (a master can do the work in eight seconds) can't be compared or equated to the twenty or thirty minutes of physical pain the bull experiences. Pica cut the muscles of the neck, and then as many as six banderillas are used. The kill may take several minutes as the matador may not pierce the heart on the first thrust. The bull dies in the end; this is the expected outcome.

Too many people don't know, or don't want to know, where their food comes from. Some of us want to eat food that isn't pumped full of steroids, hormones, and antibiotics.

 

[AllynTal]

In agriculture, a castrated bull is a steer, a castrated goat is a wether, a castrated pig is a barrow, and a castrated cockerel is a capon. These farm animals are castrated to improve meat quality. We (farmers) raise these farm animals for human consumption. Capons, raised on pasture and prepared with soaked corn, milk, yogurt, and fresh fruits and vegetables before slaughter are highly nutritious and delicious. If the local market sold meat from a bull, billy, boar, or rooster, customers would bring it back complaining that it was too tough and stringy to eat. Many would complain that the meat has a strong, unpleasant flavor.

I can't follow your bullfighting analogy. Where is the similarity or comparability of the two topics? Caponizing is a farming practice, and the objective is to end with a live chicken. Caponizing is common practice in China and the UK. The practice is being revived here in the United States.

Bullfighting is a blood sport, or an art form, depending on which side you choose. If the first matador is not able to kill the bull, a second matador will enter the ring and finish the job. After the bullfight, the bull is butchered and sold in the market, but he's not going to be nearly as tender as a steer. It's admirable that he's used as food, but the spectacle, the ceremonious battle between man and beast, is what brings people to see a bullfight. One must travel out of the United States to see a bullfight. Spain, Mexico, Colombia, and Ecuador still have bullfighting. There are probably other places.

The pain experienced by a chicken during caponizing (a master can do the work in eight seconds) can't be compared or equated to the twenty or thirty minutes of physical pain the bull experiences. Pica cut the muscles of the neck, and then as many as six banderillas are used. The kill may take several minutes as the matador may not pierce the heart on the first thrust. The bull dies in the end; this is the expected outcome.

Too many people don't know, or don't want to know, where their food comes from. Some of us want to eat food that isn't pumped full of steroids, hormones, and antibiotics.

If there were a way I could give you a bunch of thumbs up, I would.

Quote:

Yes and if I wanted a pet Roo I would take it to the vet, just because people want bigger meat birds doesn't justify the pain. People still justify Bull fighting too!

Anesthesia is dangerous for birds. Giving a bird anesthesia is putting it in more danger than a quick procedure that lasts less than a minute -- less than 30 seconds if the person doing it is proficient. Do you think that is mean? Watch a video of how the chickens, cows and pigs are treated in the big commercial production farms that supply the meat to your grocery store. Talk about inhumane treatment. If you want to take on a cause to help animals, go get on the bandwagon to stop that kind of treatment.

Folks seem to think that because we have "meat birds" that caponizing is an unnecessary evil. What they don't realize is that capon meat is a much better meat, both nutritionally and in taste, than a meat bird such as a CornishX. Saying that we have meat birds like CornishX so we don't need to caponize is like saying that because we have Honda Civics, there's no need for Lexus or Mercedes. Some people want the higher quality, better tasting meat. Part of the reason caponizing fell out of fashion here is that our food production has been centralized and the large commercial farms can't caponize economically. If it cuts into their profit margin, they don't do it. Processing large quantities of meat birds makes that meat inexpensive. The majority of families want inexpensive meat, so everyone got used to 'settling' for the Civic. Capons were the special treat at Christmas dinner, but that also went by the wayside with large production turkey processing.

We routinely castrate farm animals for better quality meat. Chickens are no different; the process is just a little more complicated. It is a viable option for chicken owners who want a sustainable flock when we might have a dozen or more cockerels every year that we need to deal with -- either kill them early and have a small stewing bird or caponize them now, let them have a nice chicken life, and then we have a feast later on a rich, succulent, tasty bird. Capons have also been useful as surrogate broodies, so they get to raise chicks while the laying hens keep laying.

Sometimes meat animals have to endure a little pain. They get branded or tagged for identification, they get castrated, they get vaccination injections, et al. It's a moment of pain for a greater good and a better life for the animal. We, as the owners of these animals, do the procedures in the best way we can to minimize the pain because we have a lot invested in these animals and their well-being is vital to our purpose. We want them to have as good a life as possible and when the time comes to harvest that animal for the table, we want the end to be as quick and humane as possible. We want happy meat, not the meat raised in the awful, atrocious conditions that exist at the big commercial production farms.

 

[Poco Pollo]

My endoscopic camera arrived. I've learned how to set it up, turn it on, record video, and download the video to my computer. Once it's on the computer, I need to flip the images (mirror image) and edit for length. A step-by-step capon video is going to happen

Today, I'm preparing a Rhode Island Red cockerel and a white leghorn cockerel that are four months old. I'm also prepping two silver laced wyandottes and two naked necks. The Wyandottes are ten weeks old, and the naked necks are six weeks old. On Monday, I'll caponize this group and make as much video as I can. It will probably take another few days to edit the video. I'll post what I think is useful on the thread.

 

[glacierridge]

On mobile this thread has 83 pages... Where do I find 109?

I feel very ignorant how do I find post 109? thx