Introduction

[TMG]

Welcome to BYC! Can't wait to read your postings on the roos! That is definitely a topic that will help others out around here!

Hi, and thank you. That is one reason why I joined the forum. When our first chick turned out to be a roo we were devastated. We were already in love with him and when trying to find him a home that wouldn't eat him failed I started looking for alternatives. We live in the city so no roos allowed and he started getting aggressive drawing blood on my kids. We all share the backyard so something had to be done. I started searching forums and came across a lot of discussions of people wanting to caponize their roos and some who were going to but then their was no more discussion on outcomes or how they did. It left me feeling scared and nervous to do it. But we had to do something so I called every single vet that dealt with birds or farm animals and no one would neuter him. I began losing hope then my vet had to come to the house to put our beloved cat down. In the process I tried to convince her to take our roo. She said she couldn't but she had neutered one of her clients roos and it was successful. Anyway, we ended up with a second roo (long story) and now they both are 4 days post surgery and doing amazingly well. I feel lucky to have had them both make it through and to be doing so well. We love them and just want them to live their life safe, healthy and free from a stew pot.

 

[BullChick]

 

[TMG]

Hiya
Nice to meet you!
Neutered Roo’s wow.
Was that pricey?
How was their recovery?!
From what I understand they go through the rib cage.
Where did you ever find a vet to do the
Procedure?
Oh yeah....

Hi, thank you for all the questions about my neutered roos. I happy to answer because I know there is a lot of interest in this subject and not a whole lot of information out there about it. We live in town and can't have roos. Of course we had hoped for hens and by the time we found out that they were roos we were in love. After a long search for someone to neuter them with no success we decided to re-home. That was a tough decision but we tried our hardest to find someone to take them on as pets. We were not successful in this either. We truly were losing hope when we had to have our personal vet come to the house to put our beloved cat down. I tried to get her to take the roo but she wouldn't. In the process of trying to convince her she had mentioned she had neutered a clients roo in the past and it was successful. She had a client who's mom had a roo. She was an elderly woman and loved this roo. He became very aggressive and was attacking her mom. She felt her only option to keep him would to allow our vet to try this procedure. My vet had done her rooster prior to the clients and lost him on the table. She said she knew where she went wrong and did the procedure on her clients roo. This has been over a year ago and the roo is still happy and healthy and back to sitting on her moms lap watching tv. So, long story short we opted to let her try. Now, she was veeeeeeery nervous. It is a risky procedure but she agreed. Now to some of your questions. We paid $145 per roo. I've heard of other vets charging less in other areas in forums I've read. I know many will think I'm out of my mind to spend that on a chicken but these roos are our pets and we don't blink when spending that to neuter a dog or cat. I don't see much difference. A pet is a pet. Their recovery was very different. They both were a bit drowsy after anesthesia. Faith (I know a girls name lol), he was standing and looked good. Pip was sitting and looked miserable. As soon as we got them home Faith immediately started eating and drinking ( the vet said they do best the longer they go without food and water within reason prior to surgery. We took food and water from them at 7 pm the night before surgery and they went in around 3pm the next day). Faith never stopped eating and drinking. In fact he was good that I thought about putting him in the yard the next day and wondered if I should even give him the pain meds. Pip on the other hand came around slower. He drank some when we got home but didn't start eating until 24 hours after surgery. By 48 hours post surgery he was feeling much better and even crowed (he hasn't since. The drive to do so just isn't there). We put them out the third day. Incisions completely healed. In fact you couldn't even see where she had cut. The vet made a small incision under each wing and gently spread the ribcage to access the testes. She then sutured and glued the incisions closed. The roos never messed with the incision sites. We kept them on pain meds for 48 hours but truly probably didn't even need it. They were on antibiotics for 5 days just in case. Today is the 5th day. They are out foraging and being chickens. They are both 6 months old. The vet said the younger the better. As soon as you know they are roos they should be done. I don't think she'd attempt it on a roo older then a year. Her last clients roo was a year old. She said the older they are the harder it gets. Faith was always a laid back, easy going roo. He hadn't even started crowing yet so his adjustment was easy although he had to be in his own run because he and Pip would go at it. Pip has crowed since 3 months of age and had gotten quite aggressive. His testes according to the vet were very large. What we have noticed is he immediately stopped trying to go after us and bite. We have no problems handling him now. Like I said above he has crowed only once and I suspect it will be his last (I do miss that but my neighbors don't). He still acts a bit aggressive towards Faith even though Faith has lost all drive to go after Pip. It's not as bad as before but my vet said it will take around 4 weeks for all the testosterone to exit his system. I trust that it will because of all the changes he's already had. So, we rotate the two roos from free roaming to the outside run to give both equal roaming time until Pip can calm down a bit more. I think to find a vet at least in our situation is to know one who is willing. We have a vet teaching hospital and several actual bird hospitals in my area that wouldn't even consider it. They say it's too invasive but from what I've seen and how quickly they recovered I'd beg to differ. This procedure needs to get out there to other vets so people like me can keep our beloved roos. You have to have a vet willing to do the research. My vet first tried on hers, to learn and it's sad he didn't make it but she instantly knew what she did wrong. She's an amazing surgeon. She watched you tube videos on how to do it, talked with her mentor, researched the proper anesthesia (many birds die from in-proper dosing or types of anesthesia) and did as much research as possible before even attempting it. She had moved the surgery date twice just because she felt she needed more research. All these things she did set her up for success. After the surgeries I asked her if she'd do anymore. She said yes. I'm comfortable with their anatomy now. During all our calls to vets to try to find someone to do this procedure. I never thought about calling our personal vet because she doesn't see farm animals or exotics. But the lesson here is you never know. The stars aligned at the right time to allow the conversation to be had that she had neutered a roo. I am thankful because we were days from having to surrender him to someone I'm sure who would have eaten him. Now he is happy with his duck and hen and hopefully soon will be happy with our other roo. I'm sorry this is a book. I wanted to be as thorough as possible because when we were first thinking about neutering, before we started a search to find someone I would have given anything to have seen a post like this. All the stuff we'd see was about how risky it is and then some would say they were going to do it but then there would be no follow up post about how it turned out. It made me fearful. I know some won't make it but I truly believe that if you have a vet who is meticulous like ours was to be prepared the chances are high that they will come through fine. It amazes me how quickly they recover. I feel blessed for we love our roos. I should add. The roos who get done earlier than mine will not grow their rooster qualities like big combs/waddles or saddle feathers. Mine already had these things so they will stay. Anyway, I think I've covered it all. If not please let me know and I'm happy to answer any other questions. I'll post pictures when we get them all together as one big flock. I hope this post can save many other beautiful roos and give people the hope that their are options for those who want to keep their roos but can't due to living in town or aggression.

 

[TMG]

View attachment 1558480

It is good having your here!

Did you caponize them yourself?

Hi, no I didn't caponize them myself. My vet had done two other roos in the past. The first died on the table but she was successful with the second. She said she knew where she went wrong the first time. She did a lot of research prior to doing this. She watched you tube videos on the procedure, spoke with her mentor and researched anesthesia etc. They came out fine and have done extremely well. By the end of the second day they were back out foraging happy as can be. We are happy also because there are no more attacks on us or our children. My neighbors are happy because there is no more crowing. I do miss the crowing but it's worth not being bit and attacked all the time. One of them still shows some aggression to the other roo but it gets less and less everyday. It takes some time for the testosterone to completely move out of their systems and I guess his testes were way larger than the other roo we had done so it makes sense he is still a bit feisty, at least it's not towards us anymore. I wouldn't want to do the procedure myself. I'd be too nervous on what to do and I wouldn't want it done without anesthesia for them. I paid $145 per bird but I have heard other vets through the forum have charged less. I think it all depends on the vet.

 

[sourland]

I find this to be a very interesting story. Why not start another thread and provide periodic updates. Good luck with them.