Anyone Ever Use Capons To Raise Chicks?

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Hello,

I was curious if anyone here has ever used a capon to raise chicks? I've read articles from the 40's about it but I still wanted to hear some more recent and personal experiences from you all. I realize that breed can be a big factor in a capon's mothering abilities. Pictures too if you got any please! Thanks! These are my main questions:

1. How did you get the capons to accept the chicks?
2. How old does a capon need to be to care for chicks?
3. Can some capons go broody and hatch eggs?
4. How many clutches of chicks can a capon rear in a year?
5. How well does a capon protect their chicks?

 

[Slothinc]

I’m interested to know the answers. I don’t know anyone who has capons! They seem to be quite rare in my area. Do you have some?

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

I’m interested to know the answers. I don’t know anyone who has capons! They seem to be quite rare in my area. Do you have some?

Not yet, but I have plans to caponize my two Sicilian cockerels this weekend. So we'll see

 

[Altairsky]

Our ancients told that they made capons drunk with wine and then close them in a small, dark wooden box with the eggs, and they eventually start sitting on them.
Not really the most elegant way to hatch eggs nowadays.

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Our ancients told that they made capons drunk with wine and then close them in a small, dark wooden box with the eggs, and they eventually start sitting on them.
Not really the most elegant way to hatch eggs nowadays.

Not sure if I want to put eggs under a tipsy capon. I've read about the capons needing to be forced to sit on the ground in the dark, sort of like putting chicks under a broody hen. Do you have capons?

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

An update, sold the Sicilian Buttercup cockerels before I could caponize them. However, I have recently caponized 15 cockerels of various ages. They are mostly barnyard mixes. I'll try to post results as they come. Birds probably won't be ready before winter so might wait until spring to offer them chicks.

 

[romea]

An update, sold the Sicilian Buttercup cockerels before I could caponize them. However, I have recently caponized 15 cockerels of various ages. They are mostly barnyard mixes. I'll try to post results as they come. Birds probably won't be ready before winter so might wait until spring to offer them chicks.

What age range were the cockerels and how did you go about caponizing them? E.g., what instruments did you use and where did you get them?

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

What age range were the cockerels and how did you go about caponizing them? E.g., what instruments did you use and where did you get them?

1. I caponize my birds at 6-8 weeks of age.
2. In preparation to caponize I fast my birds for 24 hours in a wire rabbit cage with only water accessible and I try to remove any feathers over their ribs that'll be in the way.
3. I use a large board with four screws drilled in, I restrain their wings and legs with bailing twine and I secure the twine to two of the four screws.
4. I apply 91% rubbing alcohol over the surgical site and the tools just before surgery.
5. Once both the site and the tools have dried I pull the cockerel's skin towards it's tail feathers, then I make an incision between the last and second to last rib, insert the rib dilators and spread open the ribs.
6. Once the ribs are opened I cut through the air sac and locate the testicle.
7. When I see the testicle I take my flat bladed tweezers and carefully rip the membrane covering the membrane. After the membrane is off I take the same tweezers and CAREFULLY grab the testicle and gently pull the testicle away from the artery and work my tweezer around the testicle and then cut the testicle with the tweezer and remove testicle.
8. Flip bird over and repeat on the other side.
9. After the procedure is done I put the bird in a pen on some grass where they can't dust bathe and I feed them feed soaked in Pedialyte and they stay in there for the day until their incision seals up
10. I got the my kit from a gal on this caponizing facebook group I'm part of. I'll try to get some photos of the tools.

 

[romea]

1. I caponize my birds at 6-8 weeks of age.
2. In preparation to caponize I fast my birds for 24 hours in a wire rabbit cage with only water accessible and I try to remove any feathers over their ribs that'll be in the way.
3. I use a large board with four screws drilled in, I restrain their wings and legs with bailing twine and I secure the twine to two of the four screws.
4. I apply 91% rubbing alcohol over the surgical site and the tools just before surgery.
5. Once both the site and the tools have dried I pull the cockerel's skin towards it's tail feathers, then I make an incision between the last and second to last rib, insert the rib dilators and spread open the ribs.
6. Once the ribs are opened I cut through the air sac and locate the testicle.
7. When I see the testicle I take my flat bladed tweezers and carefully rip the membrane covering the membrane. After the membrane is off I take the same tweezers and CAREFULLY grab the testicle and gently pull the testicle away from the artery and work my tweezer around the testicle and then cut the testicle with the tweezer and remove testicle.
8. Flip bird over and repeat on the other side.
9. After the procedure is done I put the bird in a pen on some grass where they can't dust bathe and I feed them feed soaked in Pedialyte and they stay in there for the day until their incision seals up
10. I got the my kit from a gal on this caponizing facebook group I'm part of. I'll try to get some photos of the tools.

Wow... How did you muster the courage for this?
You are obviously also not sedating/anesthetizing the birds and I understand that this is usual for castrations done outside the office of a vet - but I admit that I find that part hard to 'overcome' (- which is more an emotional response than an intellectual one).
Did you study the procedure through videos?
And lastly, do you use special lights (headgear?) to see inside the cavity?

On a more general note, do you have any thoughts re: a caponization at 4 months of age on roosters that have started to practise first crows? Any chance this behaviour could eventually subside again?
I am working with a vet willing to perform this procedure but 'we' are still waiting for the right tools to arrive and the clock is ticking...

Oh, and I should maybe also add the other complication - namely that I am dealing with bantams.

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Wow... How did you muster the courage for this?
You are obviously also not sedating/anesthetizing the birds and I understand that this is usual for castrations done outside the office of a vet - but I admit that I find that part hard to 'overcome' (- which is more an emotional response than an intellectual one).
Did you study the procedure through videos?
And lastly, do you use special lights (headgear?) to see inside the cavity?

On a more general note, do you have any thoughts re: a caponization at 4 months of age on roosters that have started to practise first crows? Any chance this behaviour could eventually subside again?
I am working with a vet willing to perform this procedure but 'we' are still waiting for the right tools to arrive and the clock is ticking...

Oh, and I should maybe also add the other complication - namely that I am dealing with bantams.

It wasn't easy, this is my first year in on trying to caponize birds. During my first caponizing surgery I was so anxious and my adopted grandma made me finish she said "You got this bird opened up, if he dies during the procedure then he dies as a capon or die as a rooster if you chicken out!", he lived by the way. His name is Ozzy, a black copper maran, he's my first ever capon. After that it got easier, some cockerels hardly respond to the procedure and some scream bloody murder before I even apply the alcohol. At the moment, I've caponized 33 cockerels so far and I lost one during caponization, I hit the artery . I always dread the procedure but once it's over they go back to eating like nothing ever happened. I do feel a sense of accomplishment a couple weeks post operation and starting to see the capon development. I think it's a perfectly understandable response to not want to caponize, so don't be hard on yourself for that.

Headgear light is an absolute necessity! Sorry I forgot to mention that. I study videos meticulously for months and practiced but let me say this, practicing and doing the real thing is not the same, it helped but it wasn't the same. Also every bird is a little bit different on the inside.

I've not caponized a four month old bird yet. I have caponized birds that we're 9 weeks old and beginning to crow and it's been two months since and I've not heard a peep and I'm around these birds from dawn to dusk nearly every day. I was told that caponization is most effective before crowing and that crowing birds may not stop. Sooner is better than later.

I've caponized four bantam birds so far, 1 mix and 3 millie fleur bantam cochin. The issue is with the bantams is their size and the rib splitters broke some of the ribs. They've healed up great and I wait a bit longer on the bantams to give them some more size.

What breed is your cockerel?