Neutering a Roo

[CESpeed]

I am getting a starter flock of BA's in a couple of weeks. I saw the cutest silkie at a meetup and couldn't bear the idea of him ending up dinner so I have decided to make him my farm mascot. I don't want to breed him or for him to get to my hens, so I am trying to come up with a solution. I have had cats and dogs all of my life and always gotten them "fixed" and I was wondering if the same could be done to a roo.

Any POSITIVE suggestions will be most welcome. If you feel the need to be negative, nasty or otherwise disagreeable, please keep it to yourself.

Thank you

 

[keesmom]

Are you planning to breed your Austrolorps, or do you just have them for eggs? If just for eggs then you can leave him as he is.

Roosters can be caponized. Do you have any vets near you who know livestock?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I'm pretty sure if you're going to caponize, it needs to be done at a young age. And you run the risk of killing the poor guy. Canonizing is risky, it is a procedure where you make a cut on their backs and go in and remove the testicles (which is difficult bc they are quite small, think kidney beans).
Nikki

 

[jak2002003]

I agree with the other posts.

There won't be any harm with him staying 'as nature intended' and mixing with you other chickens.

If you don't want to breed from him just do not hatch out any of your chickens eggs.

If you are very fond of him then the neutering procedure is a lot more risky in chickens than dogs and cats, and there is a higher chance he will die.

 

[donrae]

Search the meat bird section, there are step-by-step threads about caponizing, with pics and everything. It's very risky and I believe once the bird is over a few months old the mortality rate soars. Birds' testicles are internal, unlike a mammal with external, easy to access testes.

Other than caponizing, you have a few options.

Pen him sperate from your aussies. You'd probably want to get him a few hens for company.

Let him mix with your aussies. He will mate the hens when they're old enough. You'll never know the difference in the eggs, fertile vs non fertile.

If you're getting an aussie roo and plan to hatch your own chicks, just pen the silkie roo seperate for a withdrawl period. A hen can store sperm up to 2 weeks after a single mating, so keep him off the girls for 3 weeks or so before you start collecting eggs to hatch. That way he's only seperate from them for a month or so.

 

[CESpeed]

Thank you for your replies. He's about 6 months old. I am planning to breed my Aussies which is why I wanted to fix him. I don't want mixes. I'm sure there's a vet in my area. If I do separate him, how would that be done? Should I put him and the other roo in their own coop and pen area?

Again, thank you for the helpful positive responses.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

Yes, make a bachelor pen. With no ladies to fight over those guys should be quite content with each others company
Nikki

 

[CESpeed]

Cool I can do that. How far away should be from the girls?

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

I don't think they need to be too far away. If you free range your other birds will probably hang around them anyway. Good luck
Nikki