Anyone Ever Use Capons To Raise Chicks?

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Ozzy is the black copper maran

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

These are the rest of my capons

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Thank you for explaining the process and the birds' reaction to it. It always sounded brutal to me but I see it can be done ... properly and, as you describe it, humanely.

 

[romea]

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?

Might I ask: where are you located?
Seriously... if you were a day's drive away....

So all pictures show capons, eh? They are amazing birds and look - as it has been said many times - like large/oversized hens. (Love the picture of them all huddled together!)

With regards to the 1 time you hit an artery, you may want to look into ways to cauterize. It would probably be hard to do on such miniature scale without sealing the whole artery (oops ) but it might be a good idea to have that tool handy.

I managed to hatch 10 cockerels out of 18 eggs. Some were submitted to the vet as study subjects (postmortem) and it became clear that she needed much smaller instruments than were available to her back then. So this is what we're now waiting for...

It is a balancing act at this time. We are trying to bridge this wait-time with an injectable hormone suppressant. Once the last instrument has arrived and everyone is back from vacation, the cockerelS (3 are left) will be 15 1/2 weeks old - so nearly 4 months. *sigh*
Hopefully their then larger size will help the surgery (but then again... I don't know if the increased age will have a detrimental effect re: blood vessels).

Having a vet in our neck of the woods able to do the surgery would most likely benefit many backyard chicken keepers who adore their male birds but are not allowed to have roosters as per city ordinance.
Those who question the costs poured into what is seen as a $5 animal I point to the thousands of dollars spent on pure bred cats & dogs. The value of anything is in the eye of the beholder.

Re: your question, I have 1 Mille Fleurs rooster and 2 Ermine Ameraucanas - which, in the bantam size, are a rarity here in Canada. For now I am able to mitigate crowing by keeping them in the dark until late in the morning. When I do hear a crow, I intervene and place the birds back in the dark for a short while. They have now also been outfitted with a so called 'no-crow' collar but since crowing happened only sporadically, it is too early to determine its effectiveness.
I can't claim to being with my birds all day long but they are handled a lot. I am in and out of their outdoor enclosure or their indoor "aviary" (cough) all the time. Every once in a while, they also get outfitted with (cough) diapers and spend some time indoors. So far, I am able to keep crowing to happening maybe once a day. Some days are delightfully quiet all day long.
However, all these efforts might make a distinct difference if I were dealing with only 1 bird. Having 3 reinforce each other makes this more of a balancing act - and I don't know if their late caponization will permanently addressed this - or not.

Have you made any inroads into introducing chicks to your capons? As you certainly know, the anecdotal literature on that does mention their willingness to mothering - or would that be fathering?
(I am not so sure about forcing them to sit on eggs or to accept chicks. It would be nice if this just happened without coercion.)

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Might I ask: where are you located?
Seriously... if you were a day's drive away....

So all pictures show capons, eh? They are amazing birds and look - as it has been said many times - like large/oversized hens. (Love the picture of them all huddled together!)

With regards to the 1 time you hit an artery, you may want to look into ways to cauterize. It would probably be hard to do on such miniature scale without sealing the whole artery (oops ) but it might be a good idea to have that tool handy.

I managed to hatch 10 cockerels out of 18 eggs. Some were submitted to the vet as study subjects (postmortem) and it became clear that she needed much smaller instruments than were available to her back then. So this is what we're now waiting for...

It is a balancing act at this time. We are trying to bridge this wait-time with an injectable hormone suppressant. Once the last instrument has arrived and everyone is back from vacation, the cockerelS (3 are left) will be 15 1/2 weeks old - so nearly 4 months. *sigh*
Hopefully their then larger size will help the surgery (but then again... I don't know if the increased age will have a detrimental effect re: blood vessels).

Having a vet in our neck of the woods able to do the surgery would most likely benefit many backyard chicken keepers who adore their male birds but are not allowed to have roosters as per city ordinance.
Those who question the costs poured into what is seen as a $5 animal I point to the thousands of dollars spent on pure bred cats & dogs. The value of anything is in the eye of the beholder.

Re: your question, I have 1 Mille Fleurs rooster and 2 Ermine Ameraucanas - which, in the bantam size, are a rarity here in Canada. For now I am able to mitigate crowing by keeping them in the dark until late in the morning. As soon as I hear a crow, I intervene and place the birds back in the dark for a while. They have now also been outfitted with a so called 'no-crow' collar but it is too early to determine its effectiveness.
I can't claim to being with my birds all day long but they are handled a lot. I am in and out of their outdoor enclosure or their indoor "aviary" (cough) all the time. They also get outfitted with (cough) diapers and every once in a while spend some time indoors. So far, I am able to keep crowing to happening maybe once a day. Some days are delightfully quiet all day long.
However, all these efforts might make a distinct difference if I were dealing with only 1 bird. Having 3 reinforce each other makes this more of a balancing act - and I don't know if their caponization will permanently addressed this - or not.

Have you made any inroads into introducing chicks to your capons? As you certainly know, the anecdotal literature on that does mention their willingness to mothering - or would that be fathering?
(I am not so sure about forcing them to sit on eggs or to accept chicks. It would be nice if this just happened without coercion.)

I'm located between Newport and Waldport Oregon. My work schedule fluctuates but I'm sure we can find a day that would work for both of us. Yeah they love to eat and then lay down in the shade/sun . Haven't tried the surrogate fathering yet, my oldest capons are around 4-5 months of age. I want to give them about a year like a lot of hens are when they go broody for the first time. Plus I have no space for more birds at the moment.

 

[romea]

I'm located between Newport and Waldport Oregon. My work schedule fluctuates but I'm sure we can find a day that would work for both of us. Yeah they love to eat and then lay down in the shade/sun . Haven't tried the surrogate fathering yet, my oldest capons are around 4-5 months of age. I want to give them about a year like a lot of hens are when they go broody for the first time. Plus I have no space for more birds at the moment.

I appreciate the offer and would take you up on it in a heartbeat - - - if I were located on the west coast... Unfortunately we have 3800 miles between us (or 6200 km )...

 

[ButtercupEnthusiast]

Yeah that won't work