Neutering Roosters

[pwand]

They have to be done before the hormones start to mature.

 

[yakkmaster]

Capons were raised for meat just as steers are raised for beef production. Only a small number of male cattle are left uncut for breeding as bulls. The neutering process for male chickens is a skill that involves a cut in the right place, a wire hook and not many of us are willing to handle the birds this way.

 

[prayerwheel]

Eeewwww, that sounds ominous! One would think there would have been advancements in this area but maybe there just isn't the call for it in mainstream.
Thanks for your reply

Cheers
Ann

 

[FireTigeris]

to not eat baby chicks collect every day- you have likely eaten fertilized eggs before there is no nutritional or taste difference.

Eggs must be incubated to pass beyond the Second phase. (as the egg -being- laid is warm enough for those hours).

http://www.swarthmore.edu/NatSci/sgilber1/DB_lab/Chick/Chick_dev.html

 

[Ilovemacy]

I have 4 hens and one mean rooster. He picks on one hen, pinning her down and biting the back of her neck until she bleeds. I have kept her seperated from the rooster for two weeks so she can heal. Today, I let them all out to free range. The rooster found this one hen, pinned her down & ripped the scab off her neck! Now starting over with the healing, only this time the roster is being isolated. I think he is going to keep on until he kills her. Why would he pick on just one hen?

 

[Michael Apple]

I have 4 hens and one mean rooster. He picks on one hen, pinning her down and biting the back of her neck until she bleeds. I have kept her seperated from the rooster for two weeks so she can heal. Today, I let them all out to free range. The rooster found this one hen, pinned her down & ripped the scab off her neck! Now starting over with the healing, only this time the roster is being isolated. I think he is going to keep on until he kills her. Why would he pick on just one hen?

Because they can. Something particular attracts them, but their drive is so high they do damage. All these years I only had to cull one rooster who was wounding hens. He was a handsome rooster too.

 

[prayerwheel]

That is a great and helpful link Fire Tigris, thank you!
And I too have one little Silky (I have 2 but the same one gets the "attention") who is the object of what appears to be the roo rapists. Which is strange becaouse when she first arrived, SHE was the one who ruled the roost over everyone!
The breeders took back the ausralorp who was the first to show his "roo-ness" and now since his departure the white silky has stepped up into his (as I had suspected for awhile but couldn't get confirmation til recently) roo-ness, with the same little silky the other one went after, poor girl!
I'll be glad to have a flock of just hens again soon.
I do wish I could have gotten that li'l guy neutered but I guess it was not meant to be this time. The breeders said they would keep him and I could come visit whenever I wanted... thank God

 

[fuzzynurse]

Quote:
I've done some research on caponizing (neutering), but I'm not an expert. There was, quite a while ago, a lot of call for chemical caponizing in the meat industry because capons grow bigger than hens and don't have the fighting problems of cocks. A small capsule is injected into the neck (I think) and it stays there for life. It's faster, easier and cheaper than surgical caponizing (and less likely to accidentally kill the cock). As such, it was actually pretty widespread for a while. However, after a while, researchers started to find out that the chemicals (hormones?) were affecting people who ate the meat. I don't remember the effect and I can't find my source now, but I think it may have been cancer or male sterility. As a result, it fell out of practice in the U.S. and I think it MAY have been banned for meat birds.

Since those on this particular thread considering caponizing are unlikely to eat the capons, I think its effect on humans wouldn't be a concern, but it may be hard to find somebody to do it. Also, the purpose of caponizing historically was to let the bird grow out for about 9 months before slaughter versus about 4 months (and a smaller amount of meat). In light of this, I doubt there's much, if any, research on the long term effects of the chemicals in the capon's body if he lives for several years. Maybe saving the rooster from a quick death or brief surgery (less than 5 minutes in trained hands) will result in a prolonged, painful death from cancer. I don't know, but it's something to consider and research if that's the route one wishes to take.

If I can find it again, I'll try to post the source for the info on chemical caponizing.

 

[fuzzynurse]

No one here living with neutered roos?

I realize I'm responding to a really old post, but a lot of people seem to have this question. Check out Harvey Ussery's site (www.themodernhomestead.us/) and search for "capon". He's been caponizing for a few years and explains it on his site and I think he talks about the personality change that results ( and why it sometimes doesn't). His book "The Small-Scale Poultry Flock" has, if I remember correctly, even more info. WARNING: Mr. Ussery caponizes for the traditional reason - meat. Those of you who find it offensive may want to avoid his caponizing page. However, it is rather informative, and there aren't any pictures.

 

[fuzzynurse]

Good for you - I also don't believe in killing anything - just for convenience. I have two beautiful, friendly Dominique roosters I would hate to part with, so I am looking into neutering. Under proper anesthesia, I don't believe it would be cruel.

Okay, my last post of the night. Generally, caponizing isn't done under anesthesia. That may be changing now with so many people keeping chickens as pets rather than livestock. The reasons are (and I wish I could find my source) economics and safety. For meat birds, it's not cost effective to use anesthesia because it would take probably 15 minutes (likely much longer) per bird do do properly vs less than a minute for a professional caponizer. The safety issue is because of the extreme likelihood of a lethal overdose in an animal that A) weighs less than a pound (waiting until he's bigger defeats the purpose of neutering him because he's already got the rooster tendencies by then) and B) there's just not a lot of research into safe anesthesia doses for chicks because it's so rarely done. The $30-$40 dollars several people have quoted for the procedure is probably for chemical castration (read my post above for possible concerns with that method).

I'm not trying to talk anybody out of neutering a pet rooster. I just feel that any decision should be an informed and well researched one.