Neutering your Cockerals so they can live!

[Eggscaping]

Of the 7 chicks my grandaughter brought home from 4-H, 3 are cockerals! Our town ordinance only allows 1 rooster and neighbors on both sides have complained about the crowing (they are 7 mos old). Well of course we love them too much to find new homes where they of course will be "euthanized" because inevitably they won't fit in and people joke about the stew pot (the story I hear the majority of the time). Not for my babies, no thank you. After much searching I found a delightful avian veterinarian that is willing to work with me to neuter my most aggressive boy (he's rough on the girls and his brother). The removal of the testes may make a difference on this behavior; of course it may not. I read the summary of a UK vet who did one and the rooster crows much less and is docile. Vets are not schooled in neutering of roosters in school but my vet (Weymouth Massachusetts) has operated in birds abdomens and pelvises, uses a bird anesthesia machine (not a human one), and has 2 certified anesthesia techs (which are rare). One of my hens is going too in case blood is needed; in that case she will be sedated and blood removed with a syringe. He has done tons of research to prep for this surgery for my boy and is kind and enthusiastic towards this whole project and us. Scheduled for Veterans Day 2019. 10% chance of not making it. Please pray for my Checkers!

Watching this thread with great interest! Please do keep us posted, and GOOD LUCK, CHECKERS!!

 

[Eggscaping]

Hope it all goes well. I hate when I see people advocating at home do it yourself caponization. I am a veterinarian and I would never do this without anesthesia and medication for pain.

Yes. Good for you!!!!

 

[Skippersnh]

Why don't you obey the law and re-home them they probably won't make it through surgery but your vet forgot to tell you that because he just wants your money

 

[casportpony]

Scheduled for Veterans Day 2019. 10% chance of not making it. Please pray for my Checkers!

Hope it goes well.

You might find this interesting:
Bird Vasectomy and Castration

by BirdDoctor - June 30, 2011

Yesterday, I vasectomized a peacock. The procedure itself was straightforward, but it was all of the discussion that followed that prompted me to write. In fact, a lot of the comments and questions were ones that I had heard before. So I thought I would take advantage of the time to discuss bird castration and vasectomy.


Dr Echols and vasectomized peacock

Vasectomy is simply cutting the ductus deferens which is a long tube leading from the testicle (deep within the abdomen or ‘coelom’) to the cloaca. This is the conduit for sperm to travel from the testes to the outside world. The ductus deferens is cut and a section removed preventing future inseminations. This can be done via endoscopy (mildly invasive), open coelomic surgery (most invasive) or in small songbirds (like finches) at the protrusion of the cloaca (minimally invasive). In order for vasectomy to be effective, both vas deferens must be completely transected. Depending on the species, some birds can still effectively inseminate females for up to 6 months after vasectomy. This occurs because sperm may still remain in the vas deferens segment that was not removed.

Vasectomy does not affect a bird’s behavior or plumage, just the ability to inseminate (after the tube has been completely emptied). So, this procedure is used mainly as a means of population control. Potential side effects are mostly related to surgery such as anesthetic complications (including death), cutting the wrong structure (such as the ureter and major blood vessels which lie close to the ductus deferens) and incompletely severing the ductus deferens (which may heal and still be functional).

Castration is a whole different subject. As a general statement, I do not recommend castration for anything other than testicular disease (mostly cancer). In other words, I do not recommend castration as a means of behavior modification.

A bird’s testicles are located deep within the coelom making access difficult and requiring either invasive open body or multiport endoscopic surgery. The technical difficulty of castration in large part depends on the size of the testes (which varies dramatically with breeding season and any disease present). Additionally, seemingly any remnant testicular tissue can regrow. So if a spec of testicle is left (which because of its intimate attachment to surrounding tissues is possible), it can regrow into an active, healthy and very determined organ! Caponization is castration done at a very young age before the testicle has fully developed and enlarged.

While I have castrated many birds, some regrettably for behavioral reasons, I now only consider the procedure for medical problems. My experience has been that castration for behavioral modification does not work. This includes attempting to curb aggression in parrots, ducks and poultry and crowing in poultry (chickens and peacocks). The birds temporarily stop their behaviors (probably because the surgery is invasive and they feel rotten) but have all resumed at some point later (some were even checked to make sure there was no remnant regrown testicular tissue). There are actually quite a few studies in various bird species that show the same results- once the behavior is established, castration tends to not make it stop. Some of the studies have even shown increased aggression with castrated birds. Castration would probably be most effective in preventing some behaviors (and normal adult male plumage) when done on young birds. However, I cannot justify the procedure at this time.

Part of the problem is that we are asking a bird to not perform a normal behavior such as crowing in roosters and aggressively protecting a mate (which may be a human). So I focus on understanding the behavior and look for other means of modification.

Dr Scott Echols

https://www.avianstudios.com/blog/bird-vasectomy-and-castration/

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Great write up!

Historically, caponizing wasn't for behavior modification but to grow the birds much larger, fatter and more tender for a huge meat carcass. Grocers around me still sell capons. They are in the freezer section right next to turkeys, ducks and geese.
Unlike broiler chickens which were developed for fast growing genetics with huge breasts, commercial capons come from slower growing breeds like Plymouth rocks, orpingtons, RIRs and are for the gourmet market and certain ethnic groups.

 

[ValerieJ]

 

[Kiki]

 

[Eggscaping]

Why don't you obey the law and re-home them they probably won't make it through surgery but your vet forgot to tell you that because he just wants your money

Awww...that seems harsh. It sounds to me like she has a very good relationship and trust in her vet. And she wants to keep the bird and can't be sure that...even if she re-homes to someone who says they won't kill it...there are no assurances to that. Not all veterinarians are money-grubbing liars, you know!

 

[ChickenCanoe]

It does sound like he is really trying to help and putting his best effort forward.
99% of all vets without experience wouldn't attempt it knowing that there is a good chance the rookie's patient may not make it.

 

[Skippersnh]

There's plenty of people on byc that would take the roosters shoot im an hour up the road from they op I'd rather see them rehomed than go through surgery