Anybody on here ever heard of Caponizing ?

[Guinea Goonie]

Was reading through a country living book and ran across this.
They called it making a Capon. A Capon is a castrated cockrel (roo).
Apparently it was done so the bird could grow much larger than
a roo usually grows. This has been a lost art now that there are the giant breeds for meat. Just thought it would be interesting to someone !! It apparently is a rather major surgical operation.

 

[Beekissed]

MM hatchery sells a caponizing kit...supposedly, its not that hard to do but can yield some horrific accidents if not done correctly.

 

[Jena]

Lol...

I am showing my age again.

Years ago at Christmas time, you had 3 choices :

Turkey for a big family
Chicken for a small family

Capon if you had a larger family but didn;t like Turkey. (Cost was also a factor at that time)

This week I was looking for a large chicken as there was only myself and my sons at home for Christmas, and when I asked the butcher boy if he had Free Range Chickens he pointed me to some huge creatures that were challenging the Turkeys for size, and I said... "Ohh No they are Capons, and are much too big thanks" He nearly freaked out and said "No Madam they are chicken"

It was only when the old guy in the store came to the rescue that this youngster understood. He had never heard of Capon.

WE then had a long discussion about the disappearance of Capons in the shops here when Turkeys suddenly became very cheap, and you hardly see Capons now, but there they were.... Huge Chickens, and beautiful for a large family. Even my sons looked at me like I had developed horns.

Maybe a sign of the economic climate in the UK,

Jena.

 

[spook]

What a hoot, its nice on this site when you read the younger generation using the correct words, super questions and yet they will give us a great laugh from their natural young selves!

Now, as for caponizing your roos, somewhere the industry leaves me at anaesthesia..ugh. Now, Purple Chicken - I believe at some of the chicken plucking parties that someone was practicing with their caponizing tool on dead roos. Perhaps that would be the best place to start.
(all I can say is ewwwwwwwwwwwww and that isn't a sheep! LOL, JK-good luck)

 

[JennsPeeps]

I used to live in France, where caponized roos are highly prized. I may have had it once or twice, but it's pretty rare these days.

You can still buy capons in my area (WA State). I see them from time to time.

 

[kinnip]

They sell Capons at my local grocery store, Publix. I cooked one last xmas. I wasn't really impressed. Much of the added size was fat and the cost was exorbitant. I really didn't know what I was doing with it and roasted it as I would any chicken. If ever I cook one again, I'll do it low and slow. There are caponizing vids on youtube, if you feel like watching it. It's a little gruesome.

 

[MissPrissy]

It is very cruel to try the techique yourself. It opens the bird up to infection. Only the trained and experienced should do this. It is not a backyard procedure.

Finding a capon is like fnding a needle in a haystack in most places

My MIL always brings me one when she finds them.

My grandmother never cooked turkey for Thanksgiving when I was growing up. We always had Capon and Dressing. Awesome table bird!

 

[Jena]

The French are always so sensible about things.

While we were having this discussion about Capons, my youngest son piped up that this would be a great alternative to the films you see of then sorting chicks in a hatchery, the females all going to the Cells to lay eggs, and the boys are all sent down the shoot to pet food heaven.

Makes you think.

I am sure there are objections on both sides, like having to do this to a roo is not nice I am sure, but it works for dogs and all animals that would over produce, and would it not be another way of producing good quality food. At least they would be treated with a little more respect as food producers than just to be minced up for pets.

I don;t know...

Jena.

 

[dbcooper02]

If you look through some of the older books you will also learn that capons can be trained to brood baby chicks so the hens can get back to work. In France they even trained the capons to set and hatch the eggs.

Another of the old time reasons for raising capons was before refrigeration became available it was a means of keeping your meat "on the hoof" so to speak. Instead of a stringy old rooster running in the yard, you had what was called a soft roaster ready to be butchered whenever you needed it.
db

 

[chickNjake]

I read somewhere that it's illegal in some states