Caponized roo personality

[ellend]

I run a farm sanctuary and have explored this with roosters rescued from cock fighting and here is what I have learned. The surgery can be risky but if performed by an avian vet can have a reasonable chance of survival. That said- it doesn’t work. One of the largest national farm sanctuaries did autopsies on 10 roosters who were canonized and had died. In 8 of the 10 their testes grew back. They no longer do the procedure. I hope you find this helpful.

If the testes "grew back" the caponizer didn't do a proper job. Testicular tissue was left inside the body cavity. Just a small piece can re-implant an produce testosterone again. If the testicles are removed COMPLETELY INTACT they cannot "re-grow."

 

[ellend]

Another reason besides crowing not to keep a rooster, is that, as their hormones come in they can be very difficult teenagers and adults. BYC pundits tell us that this is more likely to happen in birds that are coddled and not taught boundaries as chicks. Time and time again you see the lament, What happened to my sweet boy?

HORMONES.

 

[ellend]

I have a rooster and we lived in a neighborhood and he crowed all the time , we had a coupe acres, the neighbors directly behind me complained durning a neighborhood watch and all my other neighbors got mad at him cause they said they love hearing him. Long story short you could ask your neighbors if they would be bothered by it.

I have a rooster and we lived in a neighborhood and he crowed all the time , we had a coupe acres, the neighbors directly behind me complained durning a neighborhood watch and all my other neighbors got mad at him cause they said they love hearing him. Long story short you could ask your neighbors if they would be bothered by it.[/Q

 

[ellend]

A roosters crow carries. Your immediate neighbors might like it, but it only takes one person anywhere near you to complain, and your roo gets confiscated. Also, LOTS of people don't want confrontation, so they'll say all is hunky-dory, but either seethe in private or call anonymously.

 

[HiddenHens]

I would like to share that I looked into caponizing my roosters. My grandfather used to have it done every year because they just wanted the chickens meat. Now a days, it's really hard to find someone to do it - even an avian vet. I went the collar route. I have bantams & silkies. The smallest 'no crow' collar was too big for my roos. I created my collar from heavy duty velcro 1/2" wide, that you would use to stick to a wall. I put fabric on the sticky side and size it to the rooster. The collar needs to be on snug, so you can stick small finger or something narrow between the collar and the chicken. You are not strangling the rooster & they can still breathe, eat, drink and crow. The difference is the volume is drastically reduced. You may see your rooster back up - trying to get out of the collar. This behavior is normal. There will also be a period of adjustment. Start with the collar on, but not tight. The roo needs time to get used to the collar being on after a few days, make the collar a little tighter, and go from there. At it's tightest, there should be a little space between the neck and collar. The idea is to restrict the expansion of the air sacs that create the crowing.
I've had a lot of success with the collar. The volume is no louder than the wild birds outside my windows. I have 1 roo who doesn't mind his collar and 1 who I see backing up periodically, even after wearing it for a year.

I hope this helps.

 

[Hadassah]

Apparently they did. The procedures wereperformed by an avian vet as was the necropsy. I didn’t think it was possible either but I can’t argue with the findings.

If the testes "grew back" the caponizer didn't do a proper job. Testicular tissue was left inside the body cavity. Just a small piece can re-implant an produce testosterone again. If the testicles are removed COMPLETELY INTACT they cannot "re-grow."

The proc

 

[AuntieWeasel]

I confess, I haven't read all eleven pages of this thread, but I want to chime in to say my vet refused to caponize one of my birds. He's the most clued-up livestock vet in my area. He said the naughty bits were next to the kidneys and the one time he tried to neuter a chicken it died on the table.

That said, caponizing birds used to be routinely (though I imagine cruelly) done by amateur chicken keepers for meat birds. They still do it in France, I understand.

 

[Troika]

I ended up caponising one roo as a trial to see how it goes. I’ve copied and pasted my post fr another thread for anyone who might be interested.

I did the procedure together with a vet friend with help from YouTube tutorials. We gave intramuscular anaesthesia which was titrated. Anyone wanting to know the exact doses or other details can PM me.

I searched this forum and many other places for info on capons as well as the procedure. As OP has mentioned, not much from actual owners... a lot of it was just postulates.


Because

1. My inexperience with barnevelders meant I could only sex them earliest at 12weeks
2. I had difficulty finding a vet willing to help me with the procedure as most had never done it before
3. Bantam birds at a younger age are really small and harder to operate on

In the end, I caponised one roo at 14 weeks. He was not crowing yet and not really aggressive. He would hog the feed bowls and have the occasional skirmish with the other Roos but nothing major.


Today is the 4th postop day. Whoever says chickens don’t feel much pain obviously has never watched them closely.


He was quite subdued on the first postop day and instinctively kept himself away from the rest of the flock. Even then, my mildest Orpington roo still went on the attack and lunged at him. Strangely, his other more mature (with regards to crowing and feathering) sibling Barney roos did not pick on him at all.


I locked the Orpington roo outside their pen and all was well. However, the capon moved around a lot less and didn’t eat so well on the first day. I can only surmise it was due to pain as I didn’t give him any painkillers other than intraoperatively.


By the second postop day, he was back to near normal, eating and active. Behaviour-wise, he’s still a little obnoxious. That was why I chose him to caponise in the first place. He’s still pecking at the other birds during meal times but he’s not attacking anyone.


It is definitely too early to say if caponisation has made any difference. OP, you can PM me if you have any questions.


I have tried rehoming my roos but in the country I am in, it is very difficult to find any takers. I am not keen for them to end up in freezer camp unless they become really aggressive, so I’m just hoping that caponisation will allow them to get along.


Sorry for the long post but I hope it helps.


Some anecdotal evidence:

https://www.vettimes.co.uk/article/...not-to-get-in-a-flap-over-poultry/?format=pdf

 

[Kabootar]

OMG!!! So much fuss about a capon??? I caponize cockerels since I was 15. Sure some died in the beginning. Now I regularly caponize extra roos and fatalities are rare. It takes me hardly 2 minutes to caponize a cockerel.

 

[Folly's place]

It's about lotsa practice!!!