Capon vs. Roo... Side by side comparison

[Carson213]

i’m just getting ready to caponize my first batch of meat birds. great post!

 

[newduckie]

this is a Jersey giant capon. He was born in June 2020. He was caponized in August at about 1 pound. I currently have a different capon broody on some turkey and peacock eggs. His comb grew in as regular. This boys comb just never developed.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

this is a Jersey giant capon. He was born in June 2020. He was caponized in August at about 1 pound. I currently have a different capon broody on some turkey and peacock eggs. His comb grew in as regular. This boys comb just never developed.

Wow! He is a monster!!!

I only have 1 left ATM, he is not interested in babies or being broody lol.

 

[Ron B]

I first encountered capons when I was 10 years old in 1950 on a NW Iowa farm. My grandmother raised hens for eggs and roosters for meat and caponizing. The chickens were heavies, white or red rock breeds because they were bigger than Leghorns. Roosters were also cheaper than hens. She had the school principal caponize the roosters at 4-5 weeks. I assisted him, holding the birds in position while he did the work. He cut between the last 2 ribs, used a rib spreader and a hot wire tool. I pulled the skin tight and he used an Xacto type knife, opened the ribs and hooked the testes, pressed the hot knife and removed the testes. He did both sides of the bird. I released the bird into a farm wagon, about 25 to a group. They would huddle together, usually not smother each other and had food and water. A few birds would die, 3-4 out of the 100. They would be cleaned and eaten. We never had sick birds, they may have died of shock, I don't know.
After the caponizing recovery, the birds were penned separate from the other chickens and fed special blocks of cheese as a main food. They were lazy birds and gained weight quickly, sitting in front of the blocks just eating. We had some "slips" (maybe 3/100) that developed a partial comb and were a bit more active. I assume they were part rooster. They grew like the others but we would eat them as they could not be sold as a capon. A guy came by in the fall and bought all of them like on a contract with my Grandmother.
The slips were just as good eating as the capons. I think the capons were worth 4-5 times per pound as much as the regular chickens.
I have not seen these types of birds on the market since I left the farm.
RB

 

[Dottie the Chicken]

Thanks for sharing!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

THIS is why I come to BYC. Thank you for the VERY informative article, with side by side photos - extremely helpful.

/edit just the comparison of the yellow seen in/under the skin tells the story.

 

[-Flash-]

What's a Capon?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

What's a Capon?

A castrated cockerel

 

[-Flash-]

A castrated cockerel

Oh...

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Oh...

They're used predominantly for meat because they get larger and fatter in the same time frame and don't have testosterone tainting the meat. Not a common practice now unfortunately because of the Cornish cross.