People capon roosters cause they won't become aggressive when the sex hormones kick in, also makes old roo meat taste good. When you have a old non - capon roo they taste strong when there old.
Okay...you can obviously tell I'M a newbie because I don't know what you are all talking about when you say "caponize"....please enlighten this 'ol senior citizen!!
It's the surgical removal of the cockerel's testicles...done at a very early age. It used to be done far more than now and is in dis-favor with some folks.Okay...you can obviously tell I'M a newbie because I don't know what you are all talking about when you say "caponize"....please enlighten this 'ol senior citizen!!
Yes...we caponize several birds every year. Jason could caponize a cockerel when he was very young and I expect him to do most of the work this year.
I wish I had the skill, but........not enough of a wish to drive from Missouri to West Virginia.
YIKES!!! Not me...no thanks...I couldn't do that...eek!It's the surgical removal of the cockerel's testicles...done at a very early age. It used to be done far more than now and is in dis-favor with some folks.
The advent of the quick growing Cornish cross birds has brought tender meat birds to the table very quickly but some of us prefer the taste of birds allowed to grow slower and develop that marvelous taste that can only be found in capons ...or their female counter parts.
As long as my eye and hands are sound, I will caponize cockerels every spring...
t am a little long in the tooth...and this talk of capons is making me think I'll be having this delicious meal for dinner tonight!!!
They also do this castration with goats and describe it as turning a Buck into a Wether. They don't stink as much, they grow fatter and the meat is tastier.
This is not just a West Virginia 'Thang' lol In fact, there are some folks in Missouri and certainly Oklahoma that do this.I wish I had the skill, but........not enough of a wish to drive from Missouri to West Virginia.
I have seen a heap of early sexing methods tried, but only relied on the waiting method. I had a pair of Blue Australorps that I desperately wanted to be pullets. A local breeder on here @CB and CG recommends reliable sexing by comb width. The height and colour indicators come in later, but the early sign (and he was 100% right very early with my two) is how wide the comb is, as in thickness. He asked me for a straight on shot of my two birds and with high confidence called it. Later confirmed correct by the 'wait and see method' The sample pics provided, I think they were 2-3 weeks old from memory.
Unfortunately though, I don't have the matching pullet image to compare to.
@groche , @Bens-Hens Yes, I am the one that uses this method of sexing Australorps at the age of approx 2-3 weeks as Ben stated earlier in his post. It works every time with my strain of blue and black Australorps and I have been able to correctly identify the sex in other Australorp strains so I believe in this method. It is impossible to identify a cockerel vs pullet by the height of a comb at the 2-3 week mark as the height varies on the individual. However, the thickness or width of the comb does not lie in my experiences. When I say thickness I mean the measurement from the left profile of the comb, to the right profile of the comb. Hence why you need a straight on look at the comb like in the photos Ben has supplied. A cockerel will have a comb width of approximately double to that of a pullet chick. Both of Ben's chicks in the above photos were excellent examples of what a cockerel comb should look like. A pullet will have a comb thickness of half a cockerels comb thickness. Their comb is only as thick as a sheet of paper (slight exaggeration). Occasionally I will get one chick with a comb slightly thicker than a pullet but not as thick as a cockerel. In my experience these chicks always end up being pullets with a more pronounced comb. Hope this description was clear and not too hard to follow.
