Back in July, my wife and I, decided that we wanted to raise our own meat birds, to give them longer, happier lives. We didn't plan to do all at once, and stuff the freezer. We wanted a coop, and LARGE run, just for meat birds, and cull, as needed, for our (and a few family and friends') consumption, rather than send them all to freezer camp, at once.
So, I wanted "Heritage" breeds, and in looking around, found that if I bought 30, day old boys, I could get an outstanding price. I bought 10 Dark Cornish, 10 Barred Rocks, and 10 Orpingtons. I also had five young males, of various breeds, that had been bought as girls. It was then, that I began looking into caponizing them.
Last weekend, a friend and I, attended a clinic, to learn caponization. We had 35 birds to prep, and caponize. Not knowing how many we could do, in a day, I didn't want to be forced to do more than we could handle. So, I set aside 7, for Tuesday and 8, for Wednesday procedures. After our work on Tuesday, we realized that we could easily do 15, or more, in a reasonably short day. We did 8 on Wednesday, and set aside the other 20, for Thursday.
In the end, we lost one of the Barred Rock boys, on the table. Had four who turned out to be girls (sounds about average, as the breeder claims a 90% accuracy, on sexing the day old chicks), and four slips. One slip, and one capon, passed away, the day after their surgery.
So, the one that we lost, on the table, became a lesson in anatomy. The girls, will be put in the coop, with the pullets, after they heal up well, and the slips, will be the first four, "guests of honor" at dinner.
All-in-all, it was a great week. We had fantastic instruction, met some truly wonderful BYC'ers, and had a great level of success, caponizing our meat birds.
We are already at the drawing table, designing things, that will make future caponizations, go much smoother.
And, the other great thing, is that I was given the best, of great deals, on four beautiful birds. Two each, roosters and hens, that are Marraduna Basques (Euskal Oila). I am now in process of building several smaller coops with runs, where I am going to begin keeping my purebreds, in order to get set up, for breeding some specific breeds, in the spring. One coop, will house one roo and three hens. And a coop each, for RIR's, Blue Andalusians, Australorps, and then two coops and runs, for the Basque's (since I have two GORGEOUS Basque roos).
Yes, it was a great week, and I was so happy with the instruction, and the friends I made. Y'all know who you are, I'm not going to name names. But, yeah, a great week! Sad to lose those that we lost, but it was otherwise a fantastic week.
Thank you, to everyone involved!!!
