CindyinSD
All will be well, and that will be well is well.
Well I did one of my roosters. Poor little guy was so easy to catch I figured he was sick. I turned him over to put him in the cone and he died right there, before I even cut him. I did cut one side, to make sure but his heart had already stopped and the blood just dribbled out. At least it was quick. He had sour crop. Foul smelling ick was coming down his beak. 
It was so cold (suddenly), and the wind came up from the south that it was hard to work on him. Of course there was no need to worry about keeping the carcass useable since he was sick. I had an awful time finding the right place to cut. (I had him with his left side up.) I found lungs (too far forward) and intestines everywhere. (They were blown up like long balloons--I can only imagine how miserable that was!)
I finally did find a teste. It was so deep! But there it was, shining out--a beautiful little bean-shaped yellow thing with tiny bright veins all over it like complicated lace. I might have tried to photograph it, but the cold wind blew away my senses, apparently. It never even occurred to me. I would estimate it was about an inch long and maybe 3/4" wide, very plump and super fragile. I tried to get it out with the triangle-shaped forceps. They couldn't hold on to it. I knew from my reading here there was an additional membrane around this gland preventing me from accessing it, but I could not see the membrane at all. I ended up rupturing the gland, trying clumsily to twist it out with the forceps and just gave up on it at that point.
On the other side I again found a lung on the first try! I could not palpate the ribs however hard I pushed, and though I wet the area, my visibility didn't improve. The skin and muscle tissue were thicker than I had imagined they would be. I never found the left side teste (by that route) though I did cut between the last two ribs (finally). In the end I gave up and pulled up the keel and found it nestled among the puffy (but empty) intestine "balloons."
So yeah, kind of a failure, but I learned (more or less) what I was up against and certainly where not to cut. As far as I can tell there are no images available online that show the skeleton of a male chicken in relation to its internal organs.
I've made a red dot to indicate the teste's approximate location. If you go too high you'll hit the little "y" branch that angles off to the right. Try to palpate and start your cut just below it. It needs to be a long enough cut to admit and open the rib spreader (retractor) without tearing the muscle tissue. You should see the teste near the top of your cut. It may not be yellow, but it should be bean-shaped. The size will depend on the bird's age.
Next time the weather will be nicer and hopefully I won't forget about my camera again. I have two more extra roosters. If that's not enough practice I'll probably sacrifice as many cockerels as I need to, to become proficient. I don't want to be doing this on a live bird until I'm confident I know what I'm doing. Hey, 1-2 lb cockerels are at least the size of quail. and people do eat quail, right?
It was so cold (suddenly), and the wind came up from the south that it was hard to work on him. Of course there was no need to worry about keeping the carcass useable since he was sick. I had an awful time finding the right place to cut. (I had him with his left side up.) I found lungs (too far forward) and intestines everywhere. (They were blown up like long balloons--I can only imagine how miserable that was!)
I finally did find a teste. It was so deep! But there it was, shining out--a beautiful little bean-shaped yellow thing with tiny bright veins all over it like complicated lace. I might have tried to photograph it, but the cold wind blew away my senses, apparently. It never even occurred to me. I would estimate it was about an inch long and maybe 3/4" wide, very plump and super fragile. I tried to get it out with the triangle-shaped forceps. They couldn't hold on to it. I knew from my reading here there was an additional membrane around this gland preventing me from accessing it, but I could not see the membrane at all. I ended up rupturing the gland, trying clumsily to twist it out with the forceps and just gave up on it at that point.
On the other side I again found a lung on the first try! I could not palpate the ribs however hard I pushed, and though I wet the area, my visibility didn't improve. The skin and muscle tissue were thicker than I had imagined they would be. I never found the left side teste (by that route) though I did cut between the last two ribs (finally). In the end I gave up and pulled up the keel and found it nestled among the puffy (but empty) intestine "balloons."
So yeah, kind of a failure, but I learned (more or less) what I was up against and certainly where not to cut. As far as I can tell there are no images available online that show the skeleton of a male chicken in relation to its internal organs.
I've made a red dot to indicate the teste's approximate location. If you go too high you'll hit the little "y" branch that angles off to the right. Try to palpate and start your cut just below it. It needs to be a long enough cut to admit and open the rib spreader (retractor) without tearing the muscle tissue. You should see the teste near the top of your cut. It may not be yellow, but it should be bean-shaped. The size will depend on the bird's age.
Next time the weather will be nicer and hopefully I won't forget about my camera again. I have two more extra roosters. If that's not enough practice I'll probably sacrifice as many cockerels as I need to, to become proficient. I don't want to be doing this on a live bird until I'm confident I know what I'm doing. Hey, 1-2 lb cockerels are at least the size of quail. and people do eat quail, right?
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