I'm hoping one of you can answer my question. One of our "pullets" turned out to be a roo. We don't need a roo and have had our fair share of mean roos, so we had our vet caponize him. He was caponized between 8-10 weeks of age. He's 6 months old now. Sweet, recently started crowing a lot, doesn't mount the girls, etc. But, from my understanding, capons should have underdeveloped waddles and comb. Not this guy! Is it because he was caponized older than most capons? Or was testicular tissue left behind?
Not many people have capons. I believe @QueenMisha is, perhaps she will see this and answer it. Though she seems to be missing lately. Sorry.
Caponizing is an esoteric skill these days. I have would be interested in what you discover as he progresses. I do not feel like at 8-10 weeks its considered extremely late to caponize but I am not an expert by any means on this.
I'm amazed you found a vet that would do it. So few vets know anything about chickens and it's not an external procedure like most castrations. I'm also quite surprised that he crows. Did he start crowing before the surgery? For some reason I would have assumed that a capon wouldn't crow, but I have no personal experience of them to know for sure. Let's hope @QueenMisha can enlighten us all.
Caponizing is neutering a rooster. 8-10 weeks is later than normal as they are usually done at just a few weeks. In our case, we tried to find a good home for him, but kept getting cock fighters interested in him. So, I spoke to my vet who agreed to caponized him under anesthesia and he had pain meds after. We've done our share of butchering and don't care to deal with it again, so caponizing him via our vet seemed to be the most humane option. He's a great "roo". I'm thinking that because he was older at the time of procedure,he ended up with full size comb and wattles? And...capons crow. Lol he learned from a roo a few houses down. Today he won't shut up due to construction/people talking at a house behind ours. Lol They stop, he stops. They start, he doesn't shut up. Lol
Caponizing does not eliminate male features like larger combs/wattles or male specific feathering. It also does not stop a male from crowing. It simply removes the territorial aggression and mating behaviors typical of roosters.
Kind of looks like a normal rooster to me. Maybe it was a slip? It just takes a little bit left inside for a slip. The waddle and combs on capons are usually noticeably smaller and aren’t as bright red. Caponizing usually quiets them down a lot, like literally they don’t care to crow at all, especially if they never learned to crow beforehand. Without the testosterone, they seem to not really care to crow. To me, it looks like a slip. Dead give away is the comb and waddle.
