Capon growout journal - update Super Bowl Sunday

[Tiffrz-N-Kidz]

One of the capon candidates did not make it. I found him last night, it was the one that the 2nd testicle crumbled.

The other 4 seem to recovering well. One even tried to fly out of the 'infirmary'.

On a different note, I called TVMDL about the illness that has been killing my birds, and the vet there spent a good hour talking to me about the symptoms of the ones that have died. He said it's either Mercks (most likely) or possibly the bedding I added last week had molded and the birds suffered a fungal encephalytis (sp).

Either way, a 10% - 15% mortality rate could be expected.

Between this and the dogs breaking into the tractor and turning them into squeeky toys, there's gonna be none left TO eat. sigh...

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Sorry about the losses

You seem to have really good luck w/ vets willing to spend time to help explain that is awesome. This is the first go round so higher losses are to be expected that's where you will learn what needs improving.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I'm so sorry for these problems & losses, it must be

!!!

At least nothing can take away all the knowledge & experience you're gaining, and so many others are learning too. Ya live & ya learn, and often learn the hard way. But as long as you can keep from making the same mistakes more than once you're gaining.

I know that you mentioned 'waaay back in the beginning of this project that one goal was to help keep surplus hatchery cockerels from going to "waste", that you'd buy them cheap to caponize & raise for larger meat birds at the end. I think that as long as there are big commercial hatcheries there will always be cockerel chicks in excess. I wonder if it would be more manageable for you to get your chicks in smaller batches, perhaps from local breeders and other local chicken keepers who get extra cockerel chicks as "packing peanuts". You wouldn't have to pay for the chicks, and they'd come in smaller batches which are easier to tend. I find that the more chicks I raise at once the higher the rate of illness & mortality. Just my $.02 worth of imput.

We're all still here to cheer you on!!!

 

[Tiffrz-N-Kidz]

Well, one of the birds that I thought had the illness seems to be recovering. * knocking wood * I spoke to the TVMDL vet again and we are hoping that the epidemic - whatever it was - is over.

SSU - I already have local hatchers lining up to either give me their roos, caponize their excess roos for them, or teach them how to do it themselves. The only reason I got so many to start is that this particular hatchery only offered them in lots of 100. I really only wanted 50, but if I had wanted even jsut 25, I would have paid the same amount as getting 100. Go figure. That and I really wanted a LOT to practice on so that if it took me say 20 birds to get the hang if it, I would not have lost 75% of the experiment.

I knew going into it that 100 birds is too many for me to keep a good hold on but I figured it would be worth the temporary insanity to gain the maximum experience. If that makes any sense.

I am rethinking the idea of keeping all of them for final dressed weights. It is going to depend on how many actually make it, how many successes I have, and how many end up being 'slips'. I am planning to process 'slips' at crowing age. If I get good at this, I may have to get another backyard flock keeper to finish raising a few of the capons

We'll see how the tractors hold up.

So, update:

The 4 patients are doing great! The one that I know is a full capon looks bigger to me, but it is probably just wishful thinking. I am going to check their incisions tomorrow when it warms up and if they look good, they are going out to a separate tractor. I am also pulling another batch tonight to do this weekend.

 

[KatyTheChickenLady]

watching and learning, thanks!

 

[HorseFeatherz NV]

Quote:
Did you get a weight on them just before caponing - caponizing (?) them? Curious what the weight difference is between b4 and a week, then two after the surgery.




Thanks again for doing this and sharing

 

[Tiffrz-N-Kidz]

I did weigh them at caponizing time, but without using numbered legbands (which I don't have) I have no way of knowing which one is which except the one that has the snipped ziptie from the first batch since he was the only one that was fully snipped.

Any suggestions for numbering them? I was just planning to use colored zipties, snipped if I felt it was successful, not snipped if I could not retrieve both testes.

Can I sharpie on a ziptie? Maybe I could use tickmarks when I have more than one success per batch?