GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[dfr1973]

Flaring at me once gets the death sentence here, I put up w/ an aggressive roo when we first started, had to bring a weapon in w/ me every time I was in the chicken part of the yard, never again!

Well, hubby liked this cockerel ... plus the cockerel never tested hubby, just me. I had told hubby if that little ****head flared at me again, he'd be dinner. I meant it. I should not need a chair and bullwhip to go get eggs. My grown GLW rooster, Feyd, is on thin ice with hubby, although he's never given me the least bit of trouble. Feyd does seem to have settled down a bit since we moved him out into a tractor on grass.

 

[Kassaundra]

That is exactly why the one roo got away w/ it so long here, he was excellent to his ladies, actually knew his name, and was my husbands favorite.

 

[ChookAtThis]

A lot is spending time early on looking at the "what gender is my ........ posts" here on byc, and really watching and noticing my own young birds and what they turn out to be.  In the early very young stages sometimes it is more about attitude.  Some boys have different down patterning / color.  Boys legs are thicker starting pretty young, they "heads up" more at unexpected noises, as they start feathering in their feathers are colored / patterned differently then the girls.  The boys from a pretty young age "feel" different when you pick them up, heavier then you expected.  (couple of weeks)

Try posting pics to this thread or other threads if they are a specific breed, good head shots and side body shots are best.

Thanks! I'll start checking those threads out. I would just hate to try one, kill it accidently and it turn out to be a girl anyway! Maybe I should wait until I've had chickens a bit longer before caponizing!

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Sounds similar to my scheduled caponizing marathon, which starts tomorrow morning. I have a bad back, so I think four at a time (three mornings in a row!) will be enough until I get faster. Good luck, and may the Force be with you! And with you!

Neuport, congrats on the success. Those look like they were decent-sized to be pulling out whole.

I slaughtered a 26 week old cockerel this morning - he flared and kicked at me one too many times when I went to get eggs out of the tractor. Each of his testes were larger than his gizzard - close to three inches long! When I showed them to hubby, he said, "Well that certainly explains a lot!"

This was the first time I've slaughtered one that has finished puberty, and wow was he tough to skin! I should have plucked him. It likely would have been faster.

Your hubs is a funny man without half trying. That sounds like something mine would say.

 

[dfr1973]

Your hubs is a funny man without half trying. That sounds like something mine would say.

Hubby's other quip was: "I'm surprised you didn't take a picture!" I told him I had seriously thought about it.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

Okay you guys, this is interesting.

Over on Consolidated Kansas, one of the members had a chick with serious pasty butt with blockage. She expressed the blockage

but it still looked really raw so she put a little lavender essential oil on it to soothe it. The chick went OUT for 3.5 hours. You know lolling head when they picked it up OUT. Scared said member silly, thinking she may have just killed the chick but after a major nap it was back up and running around, right as rain.

Okay, I know it is kind of crazy but what if we were to use a little lavender when caponizing? Surely we could dilute it with vegetable oil so the bird isn't out for 3.5 hours. Things that make you go hmmm....

 

[Deerfield Acres]

or maybe I should just use it on myself before I start?

 

[jbkirk]

Okay you guys, this is interesting.

Over on Consolidated Kansas, one of the members had a chick with serious pasty butt with blockage. She expressed the blockage

but it still looked really raw so she put a little lavender essential oil on it to soothe it. The chick went OUT for 3.5 hours. You know lolling head when they picked it up OUT. Scared said member silly, thinking she may have just killed the chick but after a major nap it was back up and running around, right as rain.

Okay, I know it is kind of crazy but what if we were to use a little lavender when caponizing? Surely we could dilute it with vegetable oil so the bird isn't out for 3.5 hours. Things that make you go hmmm....

If it was 3.5 hours on a chick it would probably be shorter on a 4 week old cockerel.

 

[Deerfield Acres]

If it was 3.5 hours on a chick it would probably be shorter on a 4 week old cockerel.

True enough. So I went to an Essential Oils and Chickens site on BYC after googling "use of essential oils on chickens" and turns out people use lavender for trauma and nutmeg for pain.

 

[Beer can]

Awesome thread! I have white jersey giants and black and blue langshans coming in a week from SandHill. I won't be caponizing until next year's hatch, but I'm subscribing to this thread so I can keep up on what you all are doing.