GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[partsRheavy]

This takes a lot of persistence. I recommend first tries on dead birds; second tries on birds one doesn't care too much about. This is a possible use for "frypan special" orders from the hatcheries that offer them.

I don't recommend trying to do favorite or pet birds until one has a LOT of experience or confidence...which I DON"T LOL.....

It really takes a while.

Back in the early 1900s or in French barnyards, I think the birds were viewed as food i.e. a bit expendable. It is a hard concept for most Americans to get their mind around because most of us are so far from the process of preparing a chicken to eat. It's really really hard to not see a peep-squeaking bird that is a "possible pet" when one does this the first couple of times. (but actually he is food....)

In fact, many people would rather buy already-prepared deli or fast-food chicken or at least chicken cut into parts - than deal with the whole supermarket chickens that are cheaper.



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[MacGuyver]

Are you going to have it done at OSU?

I don't know. My husband will have a fit if I tell him I wanna spend ~$80 or so caponizing two little mutt cockerels that weren't supposed to be hatched out anyway. I wanna see if Poco has time to do them, but she probably doesn't.

 

[Grace11]

I was going to tell everyone that I found metal tubes about the same length as a plastic straw, but smaller in diameter at either Lowes or Home Depot. I thought they might work good for the testes removal tool instead of a plastic straw. The tubes were in the area where they have all the bolts and nuts and weird screws, in a drawer that had specialty items. I found them by accident and thought when I saw them that they might be good for caponizing tools. I havent found any wire yet I thought would be ok....if anyone has any thoughts on the wire part, please tell me.
I'm pretty sure it was Lowes, but could have been the other.
What a great thread!

 

[MacGuyver]

I was going to tell everyone that I found metal tubes about the same length as a plastic straw, but smaller in diameter at either Lowes or Home Depot. I thought they might work good for the testes removal tool instead of a plastic straw. The tubes were in the area where they have all the bolts and nuts and weird screws, in a drawer that had specialty items. I found them by accident and thought when I saw them that they might be good for caponizing tools. I havent found any wire yet I thought would be ok....if anyone has any thoughts on the wire part, please tell me.
I'm pretty sure it was Lowes, but could have been the other.
What a great thread!

The wire part is easy. It's just frame wire from any beekeeping supply shop.

 

[galanie]

Most Hardware stores and Home Centers also carry a selection of wires. I'm positive you could find something in one that would work quite well. For myself, I have extra banjo strings that I'd bet would be great.

 

[Kassaundra]

I got my wire from the beading section at good old Wally World.

 

[LakeBird]

I read that caponized chickens need to be kept separately from the rest of the flock because they are so much more docile. Where do you keep your caponized chickens?

 

[McButterpants]

I'm dealing with this issue right now! My capons have grown to the point that I needed to move them to the bigger run, which has to be shared with my little flock of layers. The capons (even the largest of them) are so low on the pecking order they have to fly up just to get to ground level

. I lost 3 birds within 24 hours. I integrated them into a very large shared run with separate coops and plenty of roosting space. I did this on the same day I added a round of young laying pullets. There was the usual pecking order adjustment, but I ended up having to build a separate run/coop for the capons as they were just getting beat up on by everyone else ( 3 different breeds in this batch and all pretty big). I'm not sure if it HAS to be done, but I'm planning on doing all future birds seperately from start to finish.

 

[partsRheavy]

RE: Separate housing.

Interesting post!! I've been thinking about the "sissy" issue myself, as I've lost one capon to what I think was bullying from other flock members and have lost a couple of others to neighbors' dogs. This happened over a period of a few months so it wasn't sudden. It was more like an incident in June, one in July, and then another a few days ago.

Haven't lost any intact roos or adult hens this way - the dogs seem to go for the juveniles (older chicks that I've allowed to free-range) or the capons.

I've noticed a bit of a problem with the other chickens and the capons also. "Slips" seem to climb rapidly in the social order and will roost "up" while the true capons sometimes roost on the floor. Once a slip has slipped badly, he acts like a teenage roo....

One of the early-1900s books I read had recommended separate housing for the capons but it seemed they were producing a few hundred capons per year. They were doing it commercially back in the day when home-raised heritage-breed chicken was competitive vs. store-bought.

It seems that it would be a LOT of money to build separate and better-protected facilities for them such as their own coop with a chain-link-fenced run. The few capons we have do well at free-ranging and so the run would need to be pretty large and it would be a big investment in chain-link fence or electronet an area just for them.

I appreciate the observation reference the social problems of the capons because I think I'm seeing it also ??!!....

 

[Kassaundra]

This is the answer the woman who showed me how to caponize gave when I asked her about mixing her capons w/ her flock:
My capons run with my juveniles or with whichever group is out free-ranging. The roosters completely ignore all my capons. The juveniles use them as heating pads, and I've often seen a capon with a juvenile tucked under one or both wings on a roost.