GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[Kassaundra]

Hmm, does it have to be wire? Could it be fishing line? Would that work. I have no idea how difficult or easy it is to remove the testes. Sometimes it sounds easy, not so much in other posts.

Stout thread, fishing line, wire all have been used for the "wire" removal tools. The Chinese tools have a small thin probe w/ a flat end and a hole to string thread through and use a sawing motion w/ the thread. The straw and staple usually use wire b/c of stiffness to keep the loop shape.

Poco has great success w/ the wire method, though she uses thread and the Chinese tool, I almost exclusively use the grabbers in the Chinese set. If you can master it the thread (wire fishing line) method has a much less risk of fatally hitting the big blood vessel right behind the teste.

 

[Maggiesdad]

I read that capons can make good brooders, how can they be used as brooders if they have to be separate?

Let's see pics of this and then we'll take it from there...

 

[Kassaundra]

Elsie what kind of cockerel and what size were they? Some of the more melanotic birds have dark grey or black testes, and that always throws me off... It wasn't 'til I found some half black half yellow testes that I figured it out. On the one lb birds the unit may be the size of a grain of uncooked rice. And I swear once you touch them, they get smaller...

Barred birds almost always have totally dark or bi-colored dark testes

 

[elsiebb]

Elsie what kind of cockerel and what size were they? Some of the more melanotic birds have dark grey or black testes, and that always throws me off... It wasn't 'til I found some half black half yellow testes that I figured it out. On the one lb birds the unit may be the size of a grain of uncooked rice. And I swear once you touch them, they get smaller...

They are all black copper marans, supposedly around six weeks old. Some are clearly older/bigger and those are the ones I started with. On one bird (maybe second?) I did see something that looked the right color but it was TINY - yes just like rice.... I bet I saw it and didn't recognize it, since my 'experience' has been with store bought birds, empty body cavities, and kidney bean sized testes.

 

[Kassaundra]

I read that capons can make good brooders, how can they be used as brooders if they have to be separate?

I have never had to separate mine, they are mellow, but I have never had a particularly aggressive flock. You do understand they will brood as in raise the chicks, but won't set on eggs, right? I ask that b/c when I first read about how they could be good brooders I thought they would set too. lol

 

[elsiebb]

Barred birds almost always have totally dark or bi-colored dark testes

They are all black copper marans. Some are bigger than the others, but all pretty small still. I'll prep one, mark it and take pictures....probably tomorrow afternoon as I've reached my limit for today.

 

[Sylviaanne]

Let's see pics of this and then we'll take it from there...

LOL I may have used the wrong term. I read that some of them will mother chicks, teach them to scratch and other chicken behaviors.

 

[Maggiesdad]

LOL I may have used the wrong term. I read that some of them will mother chicks, teach them to scratch and other chicken behaviors.

Mine are super laid back and get along with everybody, I just want to see pics of them doing the broody thing!

 

[Sylviaanne]

The lady teaching me is local to my area found her on the Okie thread here on byc. She is awesome and has had very good success even at older ages. There is a local (several hours away but still in the state) vet school that will caponize here, but she has a better success rate then them (at least w/ the people I know that have gone to the school to have it done) She has agreed to help me when my batch just now hatching are ready. When this batch finishes hatching I will over the several week grow out time mark the females I want to keep everyone else will be caponized or pollardized and grown out for food.

Ooo, a new word! What is pollardized? Thanks, Sylvia

 

[Maggiesdad]

They are all black copper marans, supposedly around six weeks old. Some are clearly older/bigger and those are the ones I started with. On one bird (maybe second?) I did see something that looked the right color but it was TINY - yes just like rice.... I bet I saw it and didn't recognize it, since my 'experience' has been with store bought birds, empty body cavities, and kidney bean sized testes.

When you are looking in the bird, from the front - pink lungs, then the teste tight on the spine right next to the big pulsating blood vessel, then the purple red spleeny-kidney type thingy... same color as liver, but kind of ovally and tight on the backbone closer to the vent.


Did that help?