I have not watched videos of a bird being caponized, I will do so once my kids have gone to bed in the name of objective-ness. (If that is even a word? LOL). I have eaten mature roosters before, I guess I never noticed any flavor that was much different than the 10-12 week old Cornish Xs I have done.
Like I said, I have not watched it being done, just read descriptions. But having processed enough chickens to know how deep inside the testicles are, and knowing that you have to use a rib spreader, etc. to do the surgery, I just can't imagine how it could be anything other than INCREDIBLY painful.
You are right that male pigs, cattle, goats etc are not generally given meds for castration. Where I find it different is that for one thing, all of these animals have their testicles on the outside of their bodies, no surgery just to get to them. I have banded young male goats, they typically have very little reaction and don't seem to feel it very much. They have gone back to playing normally within a couple of minutes of the band being put on, I am assuming they go numb quickly. I have also had a pig done by the cutting method, and the vet turned him upside down and had the cuts made and the testicles removed in literally about four seconds. Also, with the pigs and the steers, one of the big reasons for castrating is of course personal safety. If I felt secure that a pig or steer I was raising could never get out of it's pen, or would not become aggressive before butchering time, I wouldn't do that to them either.
I decided to start raising my own meat animals partly because I feel the meat is healthier, but another very big part of it was that I want to know my food was raised and killed in the most humane, stress free way possible. Factory farming is cruel, plain and simple, and I didn't want to perpetuate it.
I hate to just kill a little chick that is healthy just because I have too many, and because I need to grow enough to find the best ones to keep for the following breeding season.
The other reason for trying this isn't all because of the length of time it takes to grow decent sized eating birds when they are purebreds, but because once a cockerel reaches sexual maturity, it emits hormones into the meat that makes it takes less desirable to me and my family. I would rather take my obvious male culls and try caponizing to have a more desirable tasting bird.
I promise, I am going to take care and inflict as little pain on these little guys as necessary to get the job done.
FYI, as I have seen it, most livestock that is castrated is not put under or sedated in any way when they do the deed. This is actually less invasive that say castrating a pig.
The other alternative would be for me to raise them big enough to pick my best then chop the heads off the rest and put them in the compost. So, which do you think is a better way to treat them. I prefer to make use of what I have that just throw them away.
Just sayin'
