Caponizing

[Minniechickmama]

I can see a couple of the 'boys' have puffs, but I won't bother with them until a few days go by. I stitched everyone with 3 stitches.

 

[Kassaundra]

The caponizing went very well, all subjects survived their ordeal. There were some difficulties which was great for me, (learning wise) not so much for the boys I guess. I am very glad I got to watch, some things that I read I just couldn't picture what was being talked about, I now have a much clearer idea of what I need and how to procede. I took pics which I need to edit and resize, I will post some when I get them ready.



My pics are graphic so I won't post them here on this thread as there is no graphic warning and it isn't my thread, but I will post a link to the pics.

 

[zionjudah]

I love this thread
I have 50 new chicks, 18 of which are cockerells soley for the purpose of caponizing.
you guys talked about straws, forceps, spreaders and several diff tools... looking back after a few months any recommendations on tools, what to get what not to? what to augment? what to stay clear of?

 

[Kassaundra]

I love this thread
I have 50 new chicks, 18 of which are cockerells soley for the purpose of caponizing.
you guys talked about straws, forceps, spreaders and several diff tools... looking back after a few months any recommendations on tools, what to get what not to? what to augment? what to stay clear of?

I am going to add some pics this week of some tools that my mentor and I both have. Others have added some pics of tools in some of the later posts, and I invite anyone who wishes to post pics of tools they like or dislike.


Oh and I just noticed so

from Oklahoma and

and the caponizing thread.


Oh I just noticed which caponizing thread I was on, sorry I thought I was on the other one, didn't mean it invite posting pics on someone else's thread sorry to the OP.

 

[Minniechickmama]

The caponizing kit you can get online, don't bother. The only good thing is the piece with the spoon on one end and the pick thing on the other. I have replaced everything else. The spreaders in that kit just slip off. They might be good if they were bent differently, but I went on eBay and found retractors that work great. I will try to get pictures soon.


By the way, I lost one of the boys from the last batch, so I am down to 4. An owl decided he likes how my capons taste too. He isn't picky though, he takes whatever he can get his talons into. It is not fun rounding up the birds every night and there are too many to train to go in at this time. It is quite the PITA.

 

[LakeBird]

The caponizing kit you can get online, don't bother. The only good thing is the piece with the spoon on one end and the pick thing on the other. I have replaced everything else. The spreaders in that kit just slip off. They might be good if they were bent differently, but I went on eBay and found retractors that work great. I will try to get pictures soon.


By the way, I lost one of the boys from the last batch, so I am down to 4. An owl decided he likes how my capons taste too. He isn't picky though, he takes whatever he can get his talons into. It is not fun rounding up the birds every night and there are too many to train to go in at this time. It is quite the PITA.

Just saw your post after I got the Capon kit from Nasco. It does look worthless. And the book doesn't even explain how the instruments work

What is the purpose of the pick thing on the end of the spoon? I just ordered a surgical retractor on Amazon for $29.00, will see how that works and let you all know. I am hoping to practice on a few process birds next week.

 

[mountainvieworchards]

The pick tool is to pull open the membrane between the muscle and the abdominal cavity. You have to tear this to get to the testes.

 

[zionjudah]

Well I have caponized about 75 chickens now. Unfortunately some didn't make it but quite honestly I killed two on purpose thinking they were going to bleed out and I didn't want them to suffer. One that I thought was dead I laid aside and then 10 minutes later looked and he was standing next to my feet. Nicknamed him Lazarus.
I have learned a lot. Still have 50 more to do and the mortality rate is declining greatly.
Wanted to thank everyone for giving me so many ideas. I have 15 that should be ready to process in January or maybe December. The rest will be ready in February.
I ended up buying a Chinese caponizing kit from one of the guys on this site and it was FAR SUPERIOR to the one I got from strombergs. I can see why they call it a 6 second kit. If you practice it is a whole lot faster.
Again. Thanks.

 

[Suprtek]

This is cool. I just stumbled across this thread and didn't have any idea that caponizing was such a lost art...
Long story - I haven't caponized in years, but have done housand in my youth (I'm 46 now). My dad did it and taught me when I was in high school. He and I both did it for local farmers in the area for several years until I went into the Navy. Since then, I have moved to Nebraska and was talking with a friend who raises chickens. Told him he should caponize the roosters and he had no idea what I was talking about. So, went back to Iowa for Thanksgiving and Mom still had Dad's caponizing tools. Picked them up and intend to start back up in the spring with a few for my friend.

When Dad and I were rolling, we could do about 1000/day and I would kill about 1 in 200. We had electric tools though and those make it easy. Wouldn't even want to attempt it with just a squeezer and scalpel. Tried it once and even with all of my experience, I killed a lot of birds.

I saw some questions that I will try to answer from experience:

1). Yes - absolutely take them off feed and water for 24 hours prior to cutting. We would have people who wouldn't and as soon as I cut one open, we would stop and do no more. It makes that much difference. You have to have the intestines shrunk and out of the way.

2). Don't try to be efficient and get both from one side. It won't work and you will kill the bird. I don't care how much the other one sticks out.

3). There is a main artery that lies along the backbone right above the testes. Nick that and game over. That is what kills the birds. Otherwise, they are pretty hardy.

4). Some will puff up with gases a couple of days after cutting. Poke them with a scalpel and let the air out. DO NOT SUTURE!! This will make it worse and they will get infected. When cutting, pull the skin down and toward the leg before incising. Then, when finished the skin cut will be up just under the wing and the skin will cover the hole between the ribs.

5). If left to fully mature, CRX capons will dress out at 15 to 18 lbs. Thy will not be tough, but as tender as a mother's love. They will get so big ans lazy that their legs will bow. Dad used to mix their food with water to make a mash and they would just sit and eat all day long. Delicious. Much better than turkey.

6). The end of the caponizing business was the chemical pellet. Actually, it was a hormone and it was reported to cause cancer in humans. It was banned in the 60's - this is why some folks think that caponizing is illegal. It is not, but you can not sell chemically created capons.

Hope that helps. Let me knof if anyone has any other questions.

 

[Minniechickmama]

I would love to see how it is done your way. I was excited that I only killed 3 out of 8 in the last batch I did this summer. Of those, I ended up with one slip and two capons (1 Welsummer and 1 Easter Egger). Owls got a couple of them. I didn't see much difference if any between them and the intact cockerels I took in with them. I don't raise the CRX any more since I have plenty of extra boys out here when hatching season is over.
I have thought about penning them separately if I try it again, and feeding them a meat ration.
I thought this would be a great solution to all the extras I would have, but it was so time consuming to do the process in the first place, and then to not see the results I had read about, I have been discouraged. I now have an outlet for my extra boys, so other than my purebred Cornish culls, I may not want to keep many extras around in the future.
Thanks for posting. If you would be able to post a video on how you caponize, PLEASE, post it to Youtube and let us all know about it.
Thanks!