GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[LindaB220]

Yeah - he got a reprieve for the time being. I knew Hapless was coming, and I wanted Tony to see how fat and sassy he was. He (the capon) is a short timer now, though...

Thank you - it's the least I can do, considering how helpful Kass and Poco have been... my dad used to say "Don't repay kindness, pass it on!"


Well, I was rusty, and my hands were shaky on the first two. Funny how that goes... had to remember how to get in my 'business' frame of mind.
We did five, took a break for lunch then came back and did four more. I kept back two since I recently lost my backup BCM cock and these boys were sired by him.

Only one, about midway through the bunch, was a bleeder, and he left the table pale and droopy. But 20min back in the cage and he was back up and moving around again. Everybody else did great. The Chinese retractor works like a champ, really minimizes bleeding around the incision compared to my old retractor. We reread Poco's post on the thread tool, but didn't get up enough nerve to try that.
A couple of the cockerels had one black teste, that threw us off for a moment but we got it figured out. Hapless was a natural, patient and steady handed. It was cool to be able to hang out with someone who could talk chickens all day - most folks I know get that glazed look after about 10 minutes of me talking chickens...

Glazed look. I've seen it many, many times.

 

[LindaB220]

I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Maggiesdad for dedicating a Saturday to teach a novice an old time art.

As I told Maggiesdad, the difficulties that we ran into on several birds were particularly educational. You always learn more from the hardest lessons rather from than the easier material. I certainly had quite a few learning experiences today. But I must say, that processing the number of birds and practice that I got certainly gave me the confidence to go forward on my own.

Even though there were extra hands to help, I suspect that we invested a lot more time to do these birds than with out the "extra help". I really do like the Chinese tools and believe that they were really a good investment. The retractor is fantastic!

One of the bigger challenges that I noted is getting sufficient magnification and light with which to work. I had a headlamp but it always seemed to be at the wrong angle when you had to move in lose. With respect to magnification these almost 60 year old eyes needed a double set of glasses! I was wearing my computer glasses and put on a stronger set of reading glasses over them. Having sufficient allows you greatly refine your movements during the surgery.

Once again, many thanks for investing the time and effort to train this newbie. I owe you a couple of cream legbar pullets!

Kudos, Tony, what a great experience!! The trick is to learn the best you can and get experience. Then you pass it on. That's what I'm going to do. I don't know of anyone in Louisiana that even knows the benefits of caponizing. Gonna learn em.

 

[Ksane]

For many of the same reasons you don't take beef cattle to the vet to be killed, or why one doesn't bring livestock to the vet to be dehorned or castrated. 

The concern is a valid one to me.  I have reasons for using capons in the future, and plan to use an inert gas such as nitrogen to anesthetize the chickens while performing this surgery (but bringing to a vet seems...unlikely let alone unreasonable.  Most vets aren't going to want to see meat birds...or any chicken).  That said, I support others who choose to go without a method of sedation.  The high success rate/low death rate of those experienced with caponizing is a sign to me that this is an acceptable method for personal farm use.  Bring it to a commercial scale, and my opinion changes for several reasons.

But castrating (most) livestock can be done in a fairly pain free way without having to cut open their skin (banding). Dehorning can also be done with banding. Our goat was dehorned with bands and she looks and feels great! Personally I think this method of castration a rooster is scary but I can see why you would do it (vets are expensive and not always easily accessible). But what I don't understand is why you would have to neuter/castrate a rooster in the first place. If its a meat bird, let them enjoy their nackers, they're gunna be slaughtered in 6-10 weeks anyways right? And if its not a meat bird I still don't see why you'd have to neuter them. So what if your eggs have sperm in them lol added nutrition!

Yes, I know this is a year old, but since chickens are compared with other livestock so often I felt the need to say this. I've banded probably....50 sheep and goats (& 1 calf) and banding is FAR from painless. The animal lays on their side on the ground for 30 minutes literally frozen in pain, it's hard to watch. They're in too much pain to make a sound and certainly can't get up. Caponizing a bird is over in a few minutes. The inscison is like a paper cut, the organs don't have pain sensors on them so they can't feel that part of it.

 

[shabbychick23]

Does caponizing stoop a rooster from crowing? At what age you do procedure

 

[Kassaundra]

Does caponizing stoop a rooster from crowing? At what age you do procedure

Yes, unless some of the teste is left in accidentally, that is called a slip. 4 weeks is traditional but poco has done it successfully on older birds, ones that have their boy feathers and have started crowing. Even those have stopped crowing after the procedure.

 

[shabbychick23]

Thanks!

 

[Poco Pollo]

I've sent a PM with directions to the capon clinic to five participants. If you don't receive the PM, please let me know. Plan to arrive between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. Come rested and confident. This is going to be a wonderful learning experience.

 

[Ruthster55]

Best wishes for success at the clinic! I hope that everyone will learn lots and be able to disseminate the knowledge in the future!

I've sent a PM with directions to the capon clinic to five participants.  If you don't receive the PM, please let me know.  Plan to arrive between 9:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m.  Come rested and confident.  This is going to be a wonderful learning experience.

 

[shabbychick23]

I sure wish you guys had something like this in Sacramento California I have another rooster that is brother to the one that I had the crowed who passed away I don't want to do any more surgeries butCaponizing I think it's probably the best procedure for him

 

[Poco Pollo]

I sure wish you guys had something like this in Sacramento California I have another rooster that is brother to the one that I had the crowed who passed away I don't want to do any more surgeries butCaponizing I think it's probably the best procedure for him

I'm sorry you lost your decrowed roo. We'll be posting photos and information after the clinic. Maybe you can find someone with steady hands willing to practice first and then caponize your second roo.