Breeding my own flock, sound advice appreciated

[MysteryChicken]

I would love the help and message you soon. THANKS!

 

[romea]

Please keep me updated on the outcome. We need all the info we can get on this topic. Hope everything goes well

Thank you & I'm happy to update you. In case you're not hearing back from me, the surgery didn't happen.

 

[romea]

Please keep me updated on the outcome. We need all the info we can get on this topic. Hope everything goes well

So... my vet had finally received the smaller instruments and I went to her with my last remaining 3 bantam roosters to have them castrated/caponized.
I returned with 2 - *sigh*.

The understanding was that surgery would be aborted if massive bleeding would again happen - and it did. So one was euthanized because of that and the other 2 now have deslorelin implants instead (for testosterone suppression, lasting maybe a year). This is an experimental approach and, or course, nothing that would make sense for someone who wants capons for their meat.

Once the roosters have had the implants for a while and I can report on what I assume would be the desired behavioural outcome for those who keep them as pets (-> less resp. no crowing, handleability resp. docile nature), I will post some info on my experience.

As for the unsuccessful caponization, I am guessing that this can be attributed in part to a lack of experience but maybe also to the small size of bantam chickens. (To recap: the vet had worked on some post mortem and felt confident to do the surgery. When I then came to her with live birds, 2 experienced massive bleeding and it became clear that she needed different instruments - which is where we then ended up in the latest attempt that led to the 'chemical castration' of the last 2 instead. I will see if/how that works out...)