GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[CindyinSD]

Thanks for the encouragement. According to my further research(which is from 1914) 2-3 months is the best age for poulardizing a pullet. So my girls are going to wait a little longer. In the meantime, I will gather up my boys and get them taken care of, since I know that I can do them from one side at this age.

It is absolutely amazing that we truly are reviving an almost lost art.....I may have to write a book describing the how-to. Hmm, perhaps an e-book???? Poulardizing is even closer to death than caponizing.

Since I messed with these girls, I will have to process them prior to laying because scar tissue is going to develop and the tract that the egg has to go through isn't going to be normal. So if the yolk can't get where it needs to go, then it is retained inside the abdomen and can cause all kinds of trouble.

 

[CindyinSD]

Now the poulardizing needs a longer fast because you are going further down in the abdomen to look for the oviduct.

 

[Mosey2003]

Sorry, don't get on much over the weekend. You don't tie anything off when poulardizing, from what all I've read. You just cut a piece out and that's it.

I'm not going to caponize these boys, between the weather and other stuff I'm just too busy and not in the right headspace for it. I will try some over the summer I'm sure.

 

[CindyinSD]

It’s been cold and icky here and my mom (whom we’re caring for) is not doing so well. She doesn’t need a lot done, but I need to be here all the same so yeah... lots of time for messing around on the internet. Thanks for the confirmation, @Mosey2003 . That’s what it was looking like to me as well. The one photo with the mysterious string is explained: she put it there to position the duct so it would show up in the photo.

I set some homegrown eggs a couple days ago and the plan is to either caponize or poulardize all or most of them so... I’ll let y’all know how I get along.

 

[Kabootar]

I found this post on poulardizing. There are some clues here for sure. Anyway I wanted to bring it to the top or bottom or wherever we are, to make it easier to find.

I told you that it is said to be easier than caponizing and we need to remove not the ovary, but only a section of the oviduct.

 

[Kabootar]

And a link which I ought to have tested, but maybe it’ll work...

The link apparently works.

 

[CindyinSD]

My 14 experimental mixed breed chicks (some of them) hatched a couple of days ago. Yay! Soon...

Avg weight taken from 5 randomly chosen chicks is 1.22 oz, so they have a ways to go to get to 1-2 lbs. but at least they’re out of their shells.

 

[CindyinSD]

The babies are growing fast--not CX fast, but still--average weight of a random selection of birds is now 3.5 oz. Looks like a lot of boys, possibly because everyone moves around so fast and the girls hang toward the back.

I'm going to have to move them out of their brooder soon. I have a stock tank for them. My preference would be to put them in the greenhouse with the ladies, in a transitional coop I have in there, but last night was -17° and we're at -2° tonight at present (10:00 p.m.). I don't feel very good about that, even with the MHHP and the temps in the greenhouse being usually around 10° warmer. I wouldn't dream of using a heat lamp, so I guess it's gonna be the stock tank for now.

I'll be butchering roosters as soon as the weather warms up and I plan to try the procedure on them once they're past caring. I'll try to get some pics, but I'm on my own for that. DH is not into the whole butchering thing, nor the caponizing thing either. So, It's gonna depend on how awkward it is to manage the camera.

 

[Kusanar]

So, It's gonna depend on how awkward it is to manage the camera.

Just an idea, I know most cell phone cameras have a voice activation thing for doing selfies where you say "click" or "cheese" and it takes the picture. You may be able to mount a phone where it has clear view of the whole table and then simply tell it when to take the picture when you get to a point you want an image of. Probably not as good as having someone else to take the pictures, but at least you wouldn't have to let go of the bird and risk getting blood on your phone or camera.

 

[CindyinSD]

Yes, I love that voice activation feature. Great thought! I want to use a dedicated camera though, because most (not all) pictures I've seen of the procedure have been dark and blurry. It's understandable since I'm sure the dark body cavity is really hard to focus on and illuminate, especially while working.

I've been thinking about this and what I'm considering is to put my camera in a thin plastic bag, tied around the lens so that's the only thing not inside the bag. I'd have to step aside for a picture to be taken anyway, so I may as well be the one taking it. It would be nice to have pics with tools in position, but (if it works) at least folks will see the interior anatomy.