capon question???

[MoniqueGerald]

I just wanted to know if you can put a capon instead of a rooster with a flock of chickens ( i have 23 chickens)? I don't want any fertilized eggs, but I want all of my chickens to lay. Is this even possible? Or am I just crazy thinking? I am actually scard to ask this!!

 

[patandchickens]

Key piece of information you need to know -- hens will lay NO MATTER WHETHER there is a rooster or not.

Just like women ovulate monthly no matter whether they are married (or "whatever"), yes?

So it is actually a non-issue

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[CoopCrazy]

You do not a need a rooster for eggs... I would think a Capon would act much like a hen in mannerisms so it wouldnt do anything for the girls..

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Is that the only reason you don't want an "intact" rooster, because of the fertilized eggs the hens would lay? Pat's right, hens lay just as well without a rooster. But some folks like to keep a rooster around to watch over their hens and keep a sort of natural balance to the flock. Some folks can't stand the crowing but many others really don't mind it. I think that capons might still crow, does anyone know this for certain? Maybe they only crow soprano?

A lot of folks routinely eat fertilized eggs, there really is no difference in appearance or taste. There's just a tiny bit of cells on the yolk barely visable to the eye. And really no danger of finding partially-formed chicks inside a fertile egg unless you take an egg out from under a hen that's been brooding for several days or more.
The main reason to caponize a rooster is to make it grow into a bigger bird for better eating.

 

[patandchickens]

Quote:
Second this, big-time.

When I got my first chickens I was convinced that I would never want a rooster because of the whole fertilized egg thing eeuww. But you know what, it turns out that unless you live somewhere it is super-hot all the time and you do not collect/refrigerate eggs within a day, you would never ever know whether they WERE fertilized.

Go look at the "fertilized/unfertilized egg pics" sticky near the top of the topics list in the Incubating and Hatching Eggs section of the BYC forum. People need to be *trained* to see whether an egg is fertile or not, and even then it takes good eyes, good light, and a certain amount of experience.

The 'blood spots' or 'meat spots' you may have seen in some eggs over the years are not a result of fertilization, they happen just as often in nonfertile eggs; and the little white sort of hazy-looking squiggles in eggs are not a result of fertilization either, they are standard equipment in ALL eggs although they are more developed in some eggs than others (again unrelated to whether the egg was fertilized).

Honestly if I gave you a dozen of my eggs you would not have any idea which if any had come from a pen with a rooster in it

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[rhoda_bruce]

Caponizing has only been on my to-do list for about 20 years. I have books on the subject but have never attempted the surgery. According to one of my books, one of the things you might see your capon doing is setting eggs. The other consideration, which is a big hurry-up for me is that you won't need to be in a hurry to slaughter.....I really need to put my foot down and learn the technique. I promised myself that the last time I slaughtered a roo, I would pull out the book and see if I could caponize the dead roo, but I didn't.

 

[MoniqueGerald]

thank you everyone!!! i think i understand now. I am having good luck with my 23 chickens, laying about 11 eggs a day ( in louisiana). I got them in the spring last year. i really enjoy them!!! thanks again for answering my silly question!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sunny Side Up]

Quote:
I wish you lived closer so we could learn together. I also would like to learn this skill so that the mixed-breed & standard-breed roos I butcher would grow larger & meatier. I don't know if you could get a good idea of the technique practicing on a dead adult, their testicles can be quite large & wouldn't slip out as easily through the space you need to make between the ribs. I think caponizing must be done when they're young, as soon as you can tell for certain they're males.

 

[jhm47]

My deceased uncle used to caponize hundreds of birds. I still have his equipment, but have never tried to use it. He told me that capons don't crow, and will set on eggs. They grow bigger than their non-caponized brothers. He had a very old capon when I was little that he called "Al". Get it? Al Capon? Glad the real "Al Capone" isn't still around, I hear that he wasn't a very nice person.