GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[Kassaundra]

Tulsa, Ok is the closest airport

 

[Poco Pollo]

Oh man, I wish I could go. But we'll likely be in Maine by then

I'm hoping to have someone behind a video camera at this clinic. It will be a month after that before I can have it edited, but the plan is to have a short tutorial I can post on You Tube.

What would be the best airport to fly into?
.How many birds could I carry on do u think?

Haskell is about 1 1/2 hours from Tulsa International Airport. We're 2 1/2 hours, maybe a little more, from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. I will have cockerels prepped for those attending the clinic. If you're not driving for more than three hours to get here, you can bring your own birds, but you'll need to prepare them according to the fasting regimen I teach, which requires having supplies and instructions sent to you. There's only one hen I've ever been able to carry on an airplane without being stopped. She looks like this:

 

[hellbender]

I'm hoping to have someone behind a video camera at this clinic. It will be a month after that before I can have it edited, but the plan is to have a short tutorial I can post on You Tube.

Haskell is about 1 1/2 hours from Tulsa International Airport. We're 2 1/2 hours, maybe a little more, from Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City. I will have cockerels prepped for those attending the clinic. If you're not driving for more than three hours to get here, you can bring your own birds, but you'll need to prepare them according to the fasting regimen I teach, which requires having supplies and instructions sent to you. There's only one hen I've ever been able to carry on an airplane without being stopped. She looks like this:

Poco...I got my 'goodies' today. Thank you......

 

[hellbender]

Depending on breed and age and number buyer wants, between $15 and $25 thus far. As I get more into specilized breeds they will cost a bit more for the eye candy and novelty!
I look forward to seeing your progress. This is such a suportive and engaging group.
Poco certainly deserves much credit here. I tell people that ask about the skill itself, that I was just blessed to live close enough to a skilled teacher.
It can be difficult (for me at least LOL) not to give into the urge to educate the haters, but that's rarely what they are here for.....

I wouldn't sell one of my 'specially bred chicks' for less than 15 dollars at 3 days of age...but that's just me.

 

[TaraBellaBirds]

I wouldn't sell one of my 'specially bred chicks' for less than 15 dollars at 3 days of age...but that's just me.

All of my capons this year are mix breeds, Brahams and EE's. Next year will be a different story though. I have Scots Dumpys, English Orps, Polish, and possibly some Black Brahmas (in the middle of a deal with those LOL). Those birds won't be cheap, even as capons! I think the Polish will make fun capons, but I know that they can be hard to sex until older so we will have to see on those.

 

[ellend]

I probably should add some pics of the tools. Next time we get together for this I will take pics of her tools and I may take some pics of mine.

Tools:
Heiss retractor. (first retractor shown in incision in pics.)
Baby weitlander (use a dull bladed one, not a sharp one.) Larger retractor shown in pic. Small adson-beckman retractor would also work well, or a mastoid retractor.
Forceps ("tweezers") Available with many different tips. The very fine, sharp pointed ones are called jewelers forceps. Be very careful with those, not to hit a vessel or intestines.
Snare. (her homemade one using a straw and wire.)

Other useful tools: Stone forceps or phipps forceps. Vein retractor, baby crile retractor. (gallbladder stone forcep is great for safely retrieving dropped testes. Slippery little buggers!) Sterile medical cotton swabs ("Q-tips") likewise; the dryness helps the severed teste to stick to the swab.

Using cautery so close to intestines is dangerous. Try to sever the teste close, and not remove other tissue. You want to end up with nothing but something that looks like a small bean.

Incision: when you stretch the skin and make the incision, keep going and complete your muscle incision while holding the stretched skin in the same position, When you let go, the skin will snap back to its normal place, and the muscle incision will be covered by intact skin.

Testes look like beans.

Two-incision caponizing is safer; there is a major vessel that, if nicked, will cause your bird to bleed to death. Better to be able to see it clearly.

Anesthetic: Isoflurane gas. Unfortunately for chickens, only available at vet office, administered by vet.

 

[djcart]

I bought straight-run chicks at an auction recently. From experience, straight-run isn't 50/50; it's more like 90/10, so I have plenty of male chicks. This is my way of saying, "We need to have another capon clinic!" I'm going to set everything up for September 13th (2nd Sunday in September). The clinic will be here at the farm in Haskell, OK. We'll work from 10:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. If you'd like to attend, please send me a PM. I'll reply with the information regarding location, price, agenda, etc. Below are the little tykes from the auction. They all went into the same brooder when I got home from the auction, and the next morning they were split into smaller groups. This is proof that only having one brooder ready for chicks doesn't stop a person from buying too many.

I had someone ask recently what I do with all my capons. Most go into the freezer, but some develop hen-like personalities, and those usually get to stay. I still have several capons that were "included for warmth" with an order of pullets: live packing peanuts. The most docile is Allen. Capons are great tick eaters, and they don't make any noise, so I've kept special capons for bug patrol rather than trying to keep guineas on the property.



Poco Pollo

This is perfect timing. I look forward to getting you and everyone who is coming to your clinic.

 

[Kassaundra]

Tools:
Heiss retractor. (first retractor shown in incision in pics.)
Baby weitlander (use a dull bladed one, not a sharp one.) Larger retractor shown in pic. Small adson-beckman retractor would also work well, or a mastoid retractor.
Forceps ("tweezers") Available with many different tips. The very fine, sharp pointed ones are called jewelers forceps. Be very careful with those, not to hit a vessel or intestines.
Snare. (her homemade one using a straw and wire.)

Other useful tools: Stone forceps or phipps forceps. Vein retractor, baby crile retractor. (gallbladder stone forcep is great for safely retrieving dropped testes. Slippery little buggers!) Sterile medical cotton swabs ("Q-tips") likewise; the dryness helps the severed teste to stick to the swab.

Using cautery so close to intestines is dangerous. Try to sever the teste close, and not remove other tissue. You want to end up with nothing but something that looks like a small bean.

Incision: when you stretch the skin and make the incision, keep going and complete your muscle incision while holding the stretched skin in the same position, When you let go, the skin will snap back to its normal place, and the muscle incision will be covered by intact skin.

Testes look like beans.

Two-incision caponizing is safer; there is a major vessel that, if nicked, will cause your bird to bleed to death. Better to be able to see it clearly.

Anesthetic: Isoflurane gas. Unfortunately for chickens, only available at vet office, administered by vet.

I think that was an early post in the thread, there have been many pics throughout the thread of the tools I and others use. Cautery was used at first by Poco but I don't think she uses it anymore especially since learning the Chinese thread method. She never had any issues using it though. Some of the early retractors worked better then others, I think nearly everyone who has tried the Chinese retractors have all agreed they are the best.

 

[Kassaundra]

@Poco Pollo I put in for that Sat night off, so I won't be up for 24 hours before the clinic.

 

[gregg3]

I have 5 chicks separated and ready to go. Two are 7 weeks old and the other three are 6 weeks old, all Buff Orpingtons. I have tools, I have an operating table and I've plucked the sides of two and I cannot for the life of me figure out where to cut.

I've been looking at Chicken anatomy drawings, read through the first 115 pages of this thread (it's a long one!), looked at pictures and feel like I'm feeling the ribs but they seem so close together, almost as if there is barely a gap for the scalpel. I found the valley reference between the thigh and ribs but I can't identify any other valleys no matter how I stretch the skin.

I started making the incision on one and could only get a very short distance, it felt like I was hitting or trying to cut through something crunchy - not bone but maybe that (lookout - technical term) white sheet membrane-ish material found in the cavity of a whole roasted chicken.

Am I perhaps cutting too low? In the completely wrong area? Help!