Caponization

[divediva]

Hello all I'm in a fix. I got my first ever chicks in December and they are now laying eggs. 10 weeks ago I rescued a feral chick that someone had found abandoned, and hoped that it would be a girl. Little Smudge is 10 weeks old and because feral chickens are a problem on the island I'm having no luck rehoming him. He's very tame and still lives in the house at night. The only issue I have keeping him is the crowing. I have a vet that I trust, who's willing to do the operation humanely, but I would only put him through this if it would stop him crowing. He's been 'practicing' for about 2 weeks. Please help, I'm desperate.

 

[mixedUPturk]

I learned about caponization when i was getting Bresse chickens the french do it habitually with that breed and they have great results. I would totally let the vet do it ur lucky uve found one that will! Be sure she knows not to loose your bird as ur gonna pay about 10 times his worth for this surgery because of how much you love him. In most places they dont put the bird under for this small surgery.

In theory yes he should stop crowing and not have the hormonal drive to even mate his hens. Its my understanding that this is usually done between 6 and 10 wks of age because as the bird and his testes get larger it will be more difficult to remove all of the testes and may not give the best result.

 

[CoturnixComplex]

I believe it will help, and I'm personally of the opinion that it's an acceptable level discomfort to go through for a bird that would otherwise probably be put down (if I could do it with my teeny quail roos they would all be able to find homes as pets! But alas), but I do agree that I think you've gotta do it ASAP.

 

[aart]

I have a vet that I trust, who's willing to do the operation humanely, but I would only put him through this if it would stop him crowing.

Not sure if it will stop crowing....but do let us know if it works and how much it costs.
I would think it would be good to caponize every feral male they could catch there.

 

[The Dapper Duck]

Be sure she knows not to loose your bird as ur gonna pay about 10 times his worth for this surgery because of how much you love him.

You can't calculate a cost relative to a bird worth $0, haha.

My advice is not to go down this road. On our island chickens are everywhere, as well as cats and dogs. You can't save them all, especially when they breed like they do and before you know it you'll be ordering up your own barge of feed just for your feral rescues. At least you have a vet there though. I was the closest thing to a vet on my island and the two most used items in my toolkit were antibiotic ointment and a .22 rifle. If one didn't fix the problem the other one would.

I have read up on this a bit and I do know that the closer they are to maturity the more blood there is to the testes. So take into consideration that there is likely more recovery needs associated with the surgery at this point than if he were younger. I do believe it stops the crowing. I am curious though, if there are feral chickens all over, why does it bother you that your rooster is crowing too?

 

[divediva]

Hello everyone and thanks for your input and advice. I have spoken to several people on island, and everyone has advised me against the procedure. Smudge is almost 11 weeks so he's a little old for the op. Also my vet is a small animal specialist and this will be his first attempt at the surgery, so I have decided against it. I don't have a problem with the crowing and we have a detached cottage with a small garden. My husband has been kept awake by roosters in the middle of the night, in the past so he was the sticking point. I spoke to the poultry association president and she keeps her roos in a small, dark box overnight to stop them crowing through the night. Does anyone have experience of this? I'm going to try it as soon as I can get a suitable box. If I do this should I provide a roost or do they lay down? He always roosts at night so I thought I should get a box tall enough to put his perch in. At the moment he's in a run during the day and sleeps in a crate in the house at night. I tried him in with the girls after doing 'see don't touch' for 3 weeks and they tried to kill him, so I will need a separate run and coop for him.