Info Overload - Question on Caponizing and Roos

[BCMaraniac]

That must be the reason for those freakishly huge chicken strips some restaurants are selling now, and the short-lived KFC "mega leg".

I don't remember the KFC "mega leg". I would think that capons are strictly a whole roasted bird.....only about a million are commercially produced annually.

I think that there is only one commercial capon producer in the US, located in Iowa, maybe? There used to be two, and the other one was in New York, I think.

I don't know how much they cost, but they bring a good price from what I understand. If you think about it, it takes 2-3 times as long to grow out, so they would consume much more food and have to be housed and cared for a lot longer. They would have to cost more.

Here is the website for the capon producer:

http://caponchicken.com/

 

[Kassaundra]

I'm pretty sure that I've seen many testes in mechanically eviscerated Cornish X fryers. I don't believe that any commercial birds are caponized. They mature so rapidly that there would be no reason to do so.

Please forgive me if I'm wrong, but that is my understanding of how they raise the commercial Cornish X.

The regular chicken carcass you buy at the store will be a "regular" cornish cross ( not caponized ) however if you buy a capon in the store (at a much higher price ) it will likely be an older cornish cross that has been caponized.

Cornish and araucana,and very flighty breeds (like leghorns) are difficult to successfully caponize b/c of anatomy ( shorter bodies) or temperment. ( learned from personal experience )

Caponizing has a very useful place in some management / husbandry practices. Especially if you want to eat your own birds hatched not in a hatchery. If you want to grow out w/o crowing or agression. However if you like the down and dirty 8 weeks and done, and have storage space for the meat, then crosses are the answer to that.

 

[Kassaundra]

I don't remember the KFC "mega leg". I would think that capons are strictly a whole roasted bird.....only about a million are commercially produced annually.

I think that there is only one commercial capon producer in the US, located in Iowa, maybe? There used to be two, and the other one was in New York, I think.

I don't know how much they cost, but they bring a good price from what I understand. If you think about it, it takes 2-3 times as long to grow out, so they would consume much more food and have to be housed and cared for a lot longer. They would have to cost more.

Here is the website for the capon producer:

http://caponchicken.com/

I have never seen them in the store in my area, but online they are $50-75 per bird plus shipping the last time I looked.

 

[BCMaraniac]

I have never seen them in the store in my area, but online they are $50-75 per bird plus shipping the last time I looked.

That's a pretty penny! And just think, we are growing our own. I will have to remind my husband of that each time we buy feed.....LOL

 

[LilRedRoo]

That's a lot of money for a chicken, though it's close to a turkey by that point...wow! I had a few people ask me why we were raising our own broilers with questions like "can't you get one at Sam's...cooked...for what you're going to pay to raise them?" I hope to be able to show them the difference pretty soon, not to mention flavor, and then go over cost analysis. We are letting them get a lot of their feed on their own as the winter legumes and annual grasses/forbs come up. Many people don't seem to realize how much protein, calcium et cetera such plant species contain. But even if I was out of pocket, it's worth it to know where they come from and what they eat.

Chicks are growing very fast by the way. I am impressed and getting excited. When we pick them up you can really feel the weight difference between the broilers and the replacement layers.

 

[LilRedRoo]

Our broilers are 4 weeks now. I have moved the layer chicks into the main coop; so far they are doing fine with the ladies, and the other 3 chicks we had that a broody hatched are close in age, and they are cruising the front together as a flock. I have a few pics of the broilers to compare how they looked at Day 1 compared to 4 weeks.

 

[Kassaundra]

Have you caponized them? or planning to? Just curious

 

[LilRedRoo]

No, I decided not to. We are going to harvest one at week 7, then half by week 8, then the rest at week 10, so based on all the info caponizing wouldn't have been for me. This group is about 75% fed and 25% free range (maybe 50/50 by harvest time).

Our next batch will be mostly free range and we'll see how they do by the same ages, and the batch after we hope to fully free range. I guess that group will be the one where we will start to notice if they are going to need more time to mature, and if needed I'll think about capons then.

This is a really positive experience. The kids are getting just as much a lesson as I am, and we're really excited about having our first broiler. We've had layer culls before, but they are very mature and destined for crock-pot only. Family members will get to be our guinea pigs

 

[Kassaundra]

No, I decided not to. We are going to harvest one at week 7, then half by week 8, then the rest at week 10, so based on all the info caponizing wouldn't have been for me. This group is about 75% fed and 25% free range (maybe 50/50 by harvest time).

Our next batch will be mostly free range and we'll see how they do by the same ages, and the batch after we hope to fully free range. I guess that group will be the one where we will start to notice if they are going to need more time to mature, and if needed I'll think about capons then.

This is a really positive experience. The kids are getting just as much a lesson as I am, and we're really excited about having our first broiler. We've had layer culls before, but they are very mature and destined for crock-pot only. Family members will get to be our guinea pigs

Yes, you are harvesting to early to benefit by caponizing.

 

[LilRedRoo]

Here are 3 pics of the layer replacements to compare. At 4 weeks, they are about half the weight of the broilers, but I have not weighed them with a scale. One pic has a cuckoo maran pullet so you can get an idea of the size (about 24 weeks old).