Caponizing a roo

[LaFleche]

Thank you. After reading the thread and your reply I am not going to do that. The disruption and stress he causes is so depressing. I cannot have any more chickens where I live. Wouldn't happen to have a liquid medication to lower the testosterone like they do for humans? He so large that my brahma won't attack him unless he gets near his hen. I brought my terrorized hen inside. She will most likely be a house pet. He really tries to mate her and he is malicious about it.
He tries to mate both my male and female duck. I can't allow my frightened hen or ducks loose with him.

Why would you want to keep a malicious and aggressive bird like this who is terrorizing your whole flock and even humans?

I think there is a certain responsibility we have to accept as owners not only to the one aggressive bird, but also to all the others suffering because of the one. Peace and well-being of the entire flock is key.
The others have a right to be protected against his aggressions and if you do not take action soon and remove the aggressor, you might end up with severely injured, malnourished and totally stressed out other birds that will be very susceptible to all kind of diseases.

What a price to let this one bird wreak havoc.

Keeping a single capon with a flock of unaltered chickens means he will have a miserable life. For instance a pullet usually will only be accepted fully into the hen-society when she starts to lay.
A capon will never lay nor will he be able to perform as a rooster would preparing nests, tid-bitting the hens and chicks, looking out for predators to warn the flock and even defending them etc.
In my book this would mean a condemnation to live a miserable life as an outcast.

A capon in a flock of other capons is something else, as all are the same and due to caponizing will be deprived of their natural behaviour.

 

[aart]

Keeping a single capon with a flock of unaltered chickens means he will have a miserable life. For instance a pullet usually will only be accepted fully into the hen-society when she starts to lay.
A capon will never lay nor will he be able to perform as a rooster would preparing nests, tid-bitting the hens and chicks, looking out for predators to warn the flock and even defending them etc.
In my book this would mean a condemnation to live a miserable life as an outcast.

Interesting scenario. Wonders if anyone has done it?
Most capons go for meat so are not long term members of a laying flock with a cock.

I hope you don't mind if I use your "How to list your location" example.

No problem.

 

[LaFleche]

There is an option to chemically castrate a rooster by implanting a hormone chip just like it is nowadays done with male dogs prior to decide if a surgical castration would help with whatever problem it was that brought the "castration might help" topic about.

An acquaintance keeps her chicken as pets and in order to avoid aggression etc. has some of her roosters chipped and some of her rescued hens with ongoing issues of their reproductive issues as well. Whereas the formerly very sick hens seem to thrive, the chemically castrated roosters are a picture of misery.

 

[aart]

An acquaintance keeps her chicken as pets and in order to avoid aggression etc. has some of her roosters chipped and some of her rescued hens with ongoing issues of their reproductive issues as well. Whereas the formerly very sick hens seem to thrive, the chemically castrated roosters are a picture of misery.

Ah.....wonders if the cock/erels miseries are because of the lack of testosterone or the chip chemicals have other effects that surgical castration would not have?
Would love to know more details about this....ages, timelines, etc.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Thank you. After reading the thread and your reply I am not going to do that. The disruption and stress he causes is so depressing. I cannot have any more chickens where I live. Wouldn't happen to have a liquid medication to lower the testosterone like they do for humans? He so large that my brahma won't attack him unless he gets near his hen. I brought my terrorized hen inside. She will most likely be a house pet. He really tries to mate her and he is malicious about it.
He tries to mate both my male and female duck. I can't allow my frightened hen or ducks loose with him.

Separating your rooster from the rest of the flock could benefit you and your other birds.

 

[jsr5]

Mine blended into the flock so well a couple missed being harvested because their leg bands had come off. we knew they should be there but couldn't pick them out. I finally figured them out but it sure wasn't because they were outcasts. They did bulk up noticeably a pet would likely need a prepared diet to some extent.

 

[aart]

Mine blended into the flock so well a couple missed being harvested because their leg bands had come off. we knew they should be there but couldn't pick them out. I finally figured them out but it sure wasn't because they were outcasts. They did bulk up noticeably a pet would likely need a prepared diet to some extent.

Interesting! What breed and age..... and did you caponize them yourself?

 

[lightspeed]

Does anyone happen to know a vet that will caponize (Castrate) a rooster? I tried one but they dont. Any suggestions??

I asked my vet and he said “no” as well. That means I cannot help a male, only a female...so unfair.

 

[jsr5]

They were Barred Rocks. I did the procedures myself about a dozen of them I lost no patients but did have two partial failures where for fear of their life I closed before I found the second gonads. I did the surgery at about10 weeks of age. The first harvest was at about one year the last two were caught at about two years when we culled the uncaponized males from the most recent hatches. I have to admit being pretty pround of myself for not losing any of them, But we got more crunched for living space so we cull roos before the effects of caponizing would give enough benefit to be worth the stress on the animals and myself.

 

[lightspeed]

So very wrong.

A caponized male chicken will live a longer life. They don't crow, they don't fight. Chickens aren't humans and certainly don't have human emotions - so, they will not be "confused" and certainly not "sad". It is said a capon actually eats less than an uncaponized male. They don't get "fat" - but they do grow larger than an uncaponized male, but have tender meat if butchered, even at an older age.

Many, many animals of many kinds are castrated/neutered on the farm, and the animals live a fine life.

All animals basically share the same emotions the we humans would like to claim for ourselves only. But he wont miss his male parts, haha! And I think it would make him a better pet. I dont like that it is an intra-abdominal invasive surgery, though, and I have heard it is done much more in European countries.