Post pictures of your capons

[bngowe]

Post pictures of your capons. I’ll start by posting a few of the capons I’ve raised.

Please include the breed, age, and if it’s a processed picture, the weight.
Tasting notes are also welcomed.

Seems to be uncommon to find pictures of heritage breed capons and I’m trying to figure which breeds are worth caponizing. I’ll list my own personal notes on the breeds as well.

 

[bngowe]

Buff Orpington capons @ 13 weeks.
One of my favorite capon breeds due to temperament and growth / size (but sometimes I question this because they always look more plump and fluffier than they actually are). These are still too young to process. At 13 weeks they are still pretty scrawny, but their temperament is . They are decent/ good foragers, but i wish they foraged more. The breeds that forage a lot seem to have much better flavor once processed.
*side note, I purposely aimed at taking a picture of these two capons together to point out a comparison. The BO capon on the left is a slip. I’m certain of it because of the comb and waddle is slightly larger and is starting to gain a brighter red coloration. Notice how both have a hen-like appearance, but the one on the right is even more so and the comb and waddle is pink rather than red.

 

[strawberricatt]

Nice! Caponizing is an interesting topic for poultry keepers, does it change the behavior much? I hear it stops birds from crowing, but plenty of people argue about that, so it'd be interesting to know from someone who has their own capons.

I hear Jersey Giants make good capons, and a capon Malay could be interesting(and massive :O)

 

[Hyper_Chicken05]

The answer is probably obvious, But whats a capon?

 

[bngowe]

Nice! Caponizing is an interesting topic for poultry keepers, does it change the behavior much? I hear it stops birds from crowing, but plenty of people argue about that, so it'd be interesting to know from someone who has their own capons.

I hear Jersey Giants make good capons, and a capon Malay could be interesting(and massive :O)

Pretty much does stop them from crowing. I’ve had a couple capons that let out a half crow, but those turned out to be slips or were trying to mimic the roosters in the distance. Roosters will crow the entire day, whereas the capons I’ve had, it seems like only the dominant one would let out 2-3 half crows in the morning and then that’s it, with all the rest being silent. Their crows would be about 1/4-1/3 the decibel level of a regular rooster.

I haven’t raised a jersey giant capon yet but would love to. The only thing is that it seems to take a long time to grow. I’ve heard 1-2 years to fully gain weight and that’s just way too long. I’m looking for something more reasonable in 6-9 months, and during that time, I’ve read that jersey giants are still building their bone structure. I would love raise a Malay capon as well since they have massive breast meat, but i do question if they will still be pretty aggressive or not. A buddy of mine swears that Malay and Thai chickens have the best tasting meat, but they are harder to come by.

 

[bngowe]

The answer is probably obvious, But whats a capon?

A capon is a castrated rooster. They are much more richer in flavor, and grow fat and tender. Literally the best tasting chicken you’ll ever have.

 

[strawberricatt]

The answer is probably obvious, But whats a capon?

It's basically a neutered cockerel. People usually caponize their birds for meat (capons grow very large). But some do it for the novelty or to alter the birds behaviour in some way (stops crowing, aggressive behavior etc...) Caponizing has to be done before the age of three months(correct me if I'm wrong) so the cockerels hormones don't get the chance to kick in before being caponized. Hopefully this explanation helped

 

[MissChick@dee]

The answer is probably obvious, But whats a capon?

A neutered rooster

 

[MissChick@dee]

Post pictures of your capons. I’ll start by posting a few of the capons I’ve raised.

Please include the breed, age, and if it’s a processed picture, the weight.
Tasting notes are also welcomed.

Seems to be uncommon to find pictures of heritage breed capons and I’m trying to figure which breeds are worth caponizing. I’ll list my own personal notes on the breeds as well.

Do you do the procedure your self?
I’d love to have you explain it to us.

 

[cassie]

Do you do the procedure your self?
I’d love to have you explain it to us.

Explanations by an experienced person are best. However, if you go on eBay you can find some old poultry books and bulletins that explain caponizing. I have two copies of the book Practical Poultry Production, one printed in 1956 and the other in 1933. Both of these books tell how to caponize. The older book tells how to mix your own chicken feed. I also found a USDA bulletin on capons and caponizing.