Getting ready to caponize. Anything I am forgetting?

[Carson213]

I am going to take away food at 24 hrs and water at 12 hrs. I have adequate light plus magnification and two helpers. I wasn’t planning to use suture or cyanoacrylate. However, I am open to insight...any other instruments that you would recommend? I am going to start on left side and try to get both testes from one side. I am also going to time it so we start in the evening while the birds are roosting...then put the caponized cockerels back into the brooder house for a couple days before going back to the coop. Please provide any additional help

 

[Carson213]

I'll bet your dental gear, and experience, helped immensely.

after doing a bunch of these surgeries, i don’t think it would be wise for somebody with zero background in anatomy, surgery or having a job that required finite hand skills. the testes in a chicken run literally along the inferior vena cava. if you make one mistake, the chicken will bleed out instantly. i sacrificed a cockerel that wasn’t doing well in order to dissect and learn the anatomy. i also did this procedure with one incision on each side. for me, as a beginner, trying to “tease” the lower testicle around the IVC wasn’t worth the risk of severing the vessel.

this being said, i think anybody could do this. the things i would recommend would be to have decent instruments (the rib spreader, hemostat and forceps are the most critical), good lighting, an assistant, some kind of magnification (it could be one of those desk lamps with a magnifying glass), and practice first on a cockerels you are culling.

i also removed food 36 hours in advance and water 24 hours. i removed food on Wednesday at 6:30 am, then water at 6:30 pm, then caponized on Thursday around 5:30 pm. I put leg bands on the capons and put them in a separate area to heal for 3-4 days.

one last piece of advice in regards to practicing...you want to be able to do this procedure in the least amount of time. there will be minor bleeding and the longer you “dig” around the bleeding will make it more difficult to see the testicle as well as the blood will clot and get in the way. i would aim to be able to do this in about 60 seconds per side if you are doing 2 incisions. when you make the incision, incise deep enough to get to the abdominal cavity...on 6 week old cockerels...this was approximately 1/4” or so. i made the incision about 3/4-1” in length and spread the ribs approximately 1/2-3/4”.

if anyone wants to learn this or wants any help, please feel free to message me. aside from doing this on dual purpose meat birds, this would also be a way for people who live in areas that don’t allow roosters to keep their roosters as a pet...just a thought.

 

[Carson213]

Step by step. I closed up with cyanoacrylate. Don’t use the rib spreaders from Strombergs...they don’t work. I used a pediatric mouth prop that we modified. Also, good lighting is necessary.

 

[Carson213]

Interesting.

Everything I've read told me this can only be done on much younger birds.

How many days has it been since you did the procedure? How are they faring?

you could do it at any age. i picked six weeks because i watched videos from a university in Latvia. i also don’t know how to vent sex...so it’s way easier to identify cockerels at 6 weeks...so as not to make an incision and find ovaries.

the capons are doing good so far but we just did this last night.

 

[Carson213]

Closer and clearer pics, might not be possible. When zooming in they go fuzzy.
Can you add a go-pro macro cam to your head set? (just kidding-kinda)
How any birds did you do the first batch and how are they doing?
Did you go in on one side or both?

i only

Closer and clearer pics, might not be possible. When zooming in they go fuzzy.
Can you add a go-pro macro cam to your head set? (just kidding-kinda)
How any birds did you do the first batch and how are they doing?
Did you go in on one side or both?

i only did 7 because it was the first time and at night. i have around 75 dual purpose birds but there’s only about 20-25 cockerels. i want to keep a few to breed and some to do a taste test comparison...so, i’ll probably only caponize ten more with this flock.

the capons are doing fine. you can’t even tell that they had surgery.

i did two incisions...for me, it was fast and less risk of damaging the IVC.

 

[Carson213]

Dumb question, sorry! What are the benefits to caponization? I'm guessing it "tames" the cockerel down by limiting/eliminating testosterone. What else?

Very interesting thread. Thanks for documenting this.

and supposedly taste...but i’m going to test that for myself. if they don’t taste any better, there wouldn’t be a point for me to do it. i live where roosters can crow and it’s not a problem.

 

[Carson213]

I am going to take away food at 24 hrs and water at 12 hrs. I have adequate light plus magnification and two helpers. I wasn’t planning to use suture or cyanoacrylate. However, I am open to insight...any other instruments that you would recommend? I am going to start on left side and try to get both testes from one side. I am also going to time it so we start in the evening while the birds are roosting...then put the caponized cockerels back into the brooder house for a couple days before going back to the coop. Please provide any additional help

I drilled holes in standing height tables with tie downs for feet and wings to lay each bird on its right side to access from the left side.

 

[Carson213]

We just did the first batch. Way less complicated than it seemed. Don’t watch this video if you’re afraid of blood.

 

[3KillerBs]

i can’t figure out how to post a video!!

Upload it to YouTube or other such site then post a link.

I'm very interested in seeing it.

 

[aart]

Also, good lighting is necessary.

I'll bet your dental gear, and experience, helped immensely.