Rooster or Hen? Thoughts on de-sexing?

[fluffycrow]

It's a cockerel

 

[FunClucks]

So, caponizing involves physically removing the testes from inside the bird, and requires you to do surgery on it. I say you, because finding anyone besides yourself to do the surgery is very hard. You have to make an incision through the breast of the bird into the abdominal cavity, reach in with small tweezers/knife, and cut out the organs, and remove them through the incision. Knowing where to make the incision is half the challenge, it needs to stay as small as possible. Incisions are left to heal without stitches (so they can drain), and the surgery is done without anesthesia (because anesthesia is more likely to kill the bird than the surgery is - very hard to dose chicks properly). When experienced caponizers do the surgery, it can be very quick, and the survival rate is high. Chickens hide their pain, so most chickens don't act like anything is wrong afterwards - generally the birds act normally, and the incision heals within a week or so. When learning how to do this surgery, you have to practice a lot, and some birds will die. Also, best time to perform is 5 weeks. Your bird is a bit old for the surgery, and if even one portion of a testes is missed, the rooster will continue to develop as a male and may fertilize some eggs.

A no-crow collar can cause your bird to die of strangulation. Many people use them and love them, but I don't use them myself because I'm not involved and hands on enough with my roosters to ensure continual correct fit. And even for folks who are, all it takes is one bad day, a few bad moments, and your bird suffocates, so I decided not to take that risk.

They have a hormonal implant for hens that can prevent them from laying eggs, but it is very expensive and I'm not sure they even sell something like that for roosters any more.

I think your best option is to rehome this rooster. Otherwise, you'll have to keep him penned away from the hens for his entire life, and that doesn't seem fair to the rooster, IMO.

Best of luck figuring things out.

 

[FunClucks]

x2 or x3 definitely a cockerel. Sorry.

 

[Yard Farmer]

Yes, cockerel.

 

[Bella the Chicken Lover]

For sure, you have a rooster. Nothing will change that.

 

[nuthatched]

100% My first choice is for him to be who he was born to be on a free range farm with 100 hens for his choosing. I have a post out in my neighborhood app for rehoming but I am just looking for options if I am not able to rehome.

Also, no one has officially said, rooster or hen yet?

He's 100% a cockerel

 

[BelovedBirds]

Hello fluffycrow. We are vegetarian and do not wish to eat a fertilized egg. Also, i am perfectly fine with crowing.

I get where you're coming from with this- but vegetarians can eat fertilised eggs as there is no development in a fertilised egg that hasn't been incubated. The growth of the baby happens after incubation starts, so there's no meat or embryo in the eggs.

As someone who used to be a very strict vegan, I can probably sympathise with some of your views and get where you're coming from...
But castrating a rooster, is a lot less humane than eating an undeveloped fertilised egg. Alternatively, if you don't want to eat the eggs, you could give them away, sell them, or feed them back to the birds. Which is perfectly natural and beneficial to them.

And tbh there's not much escaping this anyways, plenty of store bought eggs are fertilised, you'd just never know.

 

[ChirpyBrooke]

So, caponizing involves physically removing the testes from inside the bird, and requires you to do surgery on it. I say you, because finding anyone besides yourself to do the surgery is very hard. You have to make an incision through the breast of the bird into the abdominal cavity, reach in with small tweezers/knife, and cut out the organs, and remove them through the incision. Knowing where to make the incision is half the challenge, it needs to stay as small as possible. Incisions are left to heal without stitches (so they can drain), and the surgery is done without anesthesia (because anesthesia is more likely to kill the bird than the surgery is - very hard to dose chicks properly). When experienced caponizers do the surgery, it can be very quick, and the survival rate is high. Chickens hide their pain, so most chickens don't act like anything is wrong afterwards - generally the birds act normally, and the incision heals within a week or so. When learning how to do this surgery, you have to practice a lot, and some birds will die. Also, best time to perform is 5 weeks. Your bird is a bit old for the surgery, and if even one portion of a testes is missed, the rooster will continue to develop as a male and may fertilize some eggs.

A no-crow collar can cause your bird to die of strangulation. Many people use them and love them, but I don't use them myself because I'm not involved and hands on enough with my roosters to ensure continual correct fit. And even for folks who are, all it takes is one bad day, a few bad moments, and your bird suffocates, so I decided not to take that risk.

They have a hormonal implant for hens that can prevent them from laying eggs, but it is very expensive and I'm not sure they even sell something like that for roosters any more.

I think your best option is to rehome this rooster. Otherwise, you'll have to keep him penned away from the hens for his entire life, and that doesn't seem fair to the rooster, IMO.

Best of luck figuring things out.

Thank you FunClucks. I really appreciate your thoughtful and detailed reply. I will continue to look for the best home for him. He's a good boy!

 

[Bella the Chicken Lover]

I get where you're coming from with this- but vegetarians can eat fertilised eggs as there is no development in a fertilised egg that hasn't been incubated. The growth of the baby happens after incubation starts, so there's no meat or embryo in the eggs.

As someone who used to be a very strict vegan, I can probably sympathise with some of your views and get where you're coming from...
But castrating a rooster, is a lot less humane than eating an undeveloped fertilised egg. Alternatively, if you don't want to eat the eggs, you could give them away, sell them, or feed them back to the birds. Which is perfectly natural and beneficial to them.

And tbh there's not much escaping this anyways, plenty of store bought eggs are fertilised, you'd just never know.

I agree with all of this. You can't do surgery on a chick like that, but that's why you asked us I know you were only trying to do the best thing, but the answer is no. No surgery, the fertilized egg is not meat yet, good luck with everything!

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

If you don’t want to kill your cockerel and can’t find him a home, I would separate him with a few hens and just avoid eating eggs from that flock. You could give the eggs to the hens or to other people you know.

Edit: a rooster-only flock is another great solution.