GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[BCMaraniac]

Well, another day of caponization....am a little nervous, because 4 birds are about 10 weeks old, which is the oldest ones that I have attempted before, and are Bresse cockerels that I bought as straight run, so they weren't cheap. Because they are meat birds, they are large for their age as well. I doubt I can get both testicles from one side. The other two are 7 week old dual purpose mutts from my layer flock raised by my broody hen. I caponized two of their siblings last weekend, and they are doing well, so hopefully these two will tolerate the procedure as well.

 

[Kassaundra]

Take a deep breath, they are not to old. Do the one side, if any problems arise you can always do the other side next week. That is what my mentor did on her last batch of boys that were way older then you are doing. They seemed stressed after the one side so she let them rest and recover then did the next side the next week. Don't feel pressure to get them both from one side. If you can and the opportunity is there great go for it, if not don't sweat it, two inscissions are better then hitting an artery and bleeding the bird out.

 

[BCMaraniac]

Take a deep breath, they are not to old. Do the one side, if any problems arise you can always do the other side next week. That is what my mentor did on her last batch of boys that were way older then you are doing. They seemed stressed after the one side so she let them rest and recover then did the next side the next week. Don't feel pressure to get them both from one side. If you can and the opportunity is there great go for it, if not don't sweat it, two inscissions are better then hitting an artery and bleeding the bird out.

Well, I survived, and so did all of the patients....so far. I used two incisions on the Bresse and one of the younger ones. I got both testicles from one side on the other young one. All of the testicles came out intact as far as I could tell, but the proof will come later.

The Bresse were much more developed, and the testicles were much larger than the others.
I think they mature early, but none had started crowing. It is going to be interesting how they grow compared to the intact cockerels that I plan to use for breeding.

I have a few more chicks out of my broody hen, but they haven't comfortably declared themselves as of yet. They are 7 weeks old, so I can wait a week or two.

I don't know what I am going to do with all of these capons. It's better than having that many cockerels running around, though. Hopefully many of them are true capons, so I can see the difference in them in terms of size, tenderness, flavor, etc.

My husband's boss wants to learn to caponize, and he asked if I would teach him.....I can't even imagine teaching someone how to do it. Hubby told his boss that I might when I got better at it. That is gonna be a while.

I have some incubator mutts that are 4 weeks old, so I am thinking about trying to caponize next weekend at 5 weeks. I want to see if I can be consistently successful with the one sided removal in the younger birds. If so, then I will start doing them at that age.

 

[Kassaundra]

Awesome, congrats all around!!!! I am looking forward to seeing that too, the diff in size between full capons, slips, and full males

 

[Maggiesdad]

These are some of my fixed boys coming up on 26 weeks... Am White Bresse and some meat crosses I've been playing with. I processed a couple of slips last week and was amazed at how much more fat was in them than roosters of the same size. I'm going to run a couple of them out to 8 months (Sept) and finish them on a different diet just for giggles.

 

[Kassaundra]

These are some of my fixed boys coming up on 26 weeks... Am White Bresse and some meat crosses I've been playing with. I processed a couple of slips last week and was amazed at how much more fat was in them than roosters of the same size. I'm going to run a couple of them out to 8 months (Sept) and finish them on a different diet just for giggles.

That is one of the great things about capons you don't have to get in any hurry to process, they aren't getting tough, aren't fighting, aren't harassing the hens, aren't driving you crazy w/ crowing.

 

[BCMaraniac]

These are some of my fixed boys coming up on 26 weeks... Am White Bresse and some meat crosses I've been playing with. I processed a couple of slips last week and was amazed at how much more fat was in them than roosters of the same size. I'm going to run a couple of them out to 8 months (Sept) and finish them on a different diet just for giggles.

These are some of my fixed boys coming up on 26 weeks... Am White Bresse and some meat crosses I've been playing with. I processed a couple of slips last week and was amazed at how much more fat was in them than roosters of the same size. I'm going to run a couple of them out to 8 months (Sept) and finish them on a different diet just for giggles.




Good-looking birds.....can't wait till mine get big enough to harvest.....

 

[Shellz]

Great job BCMaraniac! I'm also very interested in how they will turn out!
Nice birds Maggiesdad! Keep us posted on their development, please.

I'm just living vicariously through you all!

 

[BCMaraniac]

These are some of my fixed boys coming up on 26 weeks... Am White Bresse and some meat crosses I've been playing with. I processed a couple of slips last week and was amazed at how much more fat was in them than roosters of the same size. I'm going to run a couple of them out to 8 months (Sept) and finish them on a different diet just for giggles.

Hey MaggiesDad, Have you processed any of your White American Bresse? That is what I caponized yesterday, and have wondered if anybody had tasted of them yet. You can tell that yours have been caponized, because they don't have those HUGE combs. How old were yours when they were caponized?

 

[Maggiesdad]

Not yet - those two boys were from extra eggs a buddy threw in a shipment of EOs. Since no Bresse pullets hatched, I decided to go this route with them. They were decidedly male, about 1 lb each - probably 7 weeks IIRC. Their combs went back to pink the next day.

Since I have two, I'm going to try one early with no special diet, and the second one finished on milk and a single grain.

My focus is one the EO, or Basque Hen. The Spanish lit says their full potential is realized in the capon... I haven't tried EO capons yet, I'm still trying to improve my flock. The EO cockerels make awesome fryers at 1.5 - 2lb though!


Some old lit I've read says the best of the best is the poulard... Kassaundra touched on them in this thread I believe.

Thanks for the compliments - when I see these guys out free ranging, I imagine little neon signs flashing 'Sunday Dinner' over their heads... kind of like those "I'm thinking Arby's" cowboy hats!