should i caponize my little chick

[Ihavesomechickens]

Your hen will probably be fine if the silkie is a rooster. Silkie roosters (and roosters in general) are not aggressive if raised properly. You need to shower them in love and they will love you back.

If you are worried about your hen getting scratched on her back then get her a hen saddle is it comes to that. You can also shape the nails and spurs to loose their sharpness with a nail file. There are tutorials online that can show you how to do that if you don’t already know.

I wouldn’t caponize it because it has a pretty high mortality rate and the chicken lives a miserable life caponized.

 

[DogAndCat36]

Thread drift, but @DogAndCat36 , please enter the name contest with Danny Bantam
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...rom-grubblyfarms.1383417/page-3#post-22725657

Name contest, ohh, will check it out. Thank you.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Get another hen if you don't want the rooster to breed and rehone the rooster

very good idea just didnt want to get attached to the roo and thought maybe there was a way around it

The people who caponize their birds usually have a large number of chickens that they also raise for meat. You certainly don't want to attempt caponizing a bird the sex of which is hard to identify.

I would just leave your silkie alone. Silkie roos are normally pretty friendly and if roosters aren't allowed in your location, they are easier to rehome than roosters of most breeds.

There are places where you can mail some feathers, and they check the sex of the bird by its DNA. The cost isn't too awful--$20 or so.

If you know the sex for sure, and if it's a pullet, you could quit worrying. If it's a cockerel, you could decide whether to re-home it while it's still young (before you get any more attached), or whether to try keeping it anyway.

Silkie roosters do have a good reputation for being nice to both humans and hens, although of course there are exceptions with any breed.

Do NOT rehome your chick. You said in your first post you have Marek’s in your flock. Any other chickens you get now will be carriers of Marek’s for life. This means that if you rehome a rooster, all the chickens (and other poultry that can contract this disease) in the flock of the person you rehome to will get infected by your rooster. Many may die, just like your chicken’s companion did. The person you rehome your rooster to will have a flock that will carry Marek’s for life. Even if they don’t care about that, anytime they rehome chickens or people with other chickens come in contact with their birds, it will further spread Marek’s disease and cause even more chickens (and quail and turkeys) to die.

 

[NatJ]

Good point, I missed the Mareks in the first post. So no rehoming.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

my problem with a rooster is I just dont want it climbing all over ace and hurting her I dont mind crowing or if they get big

If you’re worried about that, you can separate them.

First of all, he will not hurt her. How can normal roosters mate with hens if they are injuring them? Second of all, a rooster will not be aggressive if they are raised right.

I believe the OP is worried about over-mating.

oh yeah I know that but like laying them on their back and seeing which leg they extend

That is an inaccurate sexing method.

 

[Ruthster55]

Maybe I will ask why there is Marek's disease on your property? I also missed this from the original post.

Did your parents or grandparents have an infected flock??

If you know there is Marek's disease on the farm, do you vaccinate your baby chicks?? I am aware that the birds on your property (or anywhere with Marek's) cannot be rehomed.

I know little about Marek's disease and more about common stuff like coccidiosis.

 

[AceSierra]

Your hen will probably be fine if the silkie is a rooster. Silkie roosters (and roosters in general) are not aggressive if raised properly. You need to shower them in love and they will love you back.

If you are worried about your hen getting scratched on her back then get her a hen saddle is it comes to that. You can also shape the nails and spurs to loose their sharpness with a nail file. There are tutorials online that can show you how to do that if you don’t already know.

I wouldn’t caponize it because it has a pretty high mortality rate and the chicken lives a miserable life caponized.

alright very informative thank you.

 

[ILIKEDUCKS]

I managed to recover some pictures of the silkie I died as a pumpkin for Halloween.
Before.View attachment 2180954View attachment 2180955After. Her name is Poof by the way.
View attachment 2180956View attachment 2180957View attachment 2180958This is just food dye.

Cool

 

[chkncrazy]

My grandmother used to have capons back in the day before cornish cross
.. im talking like the 50s... and she basically said it's a very barbaric way home and you have to lose many before you learn how to do it the right way and usually in the town she grew up in Italy there was like one expert LOL.... it would be nice if a Farm vet offered it as a service.....as they do get fat... but like I said since the introduction of the Cornish cross capons became less and less popular

 

[AceSierra]

My grandmother used to have capons back in the day before cornish cross
.. im talking like the 50s... and she basically said it's a very barbaric way home and you have to lose many before you learn how to do it the right way and usually in the town she grew up in Italy there was like one expert LOL.... it would be nice if a Farm vet offered it as a service.....as they do get fat... but like I said since the introduction of the Cornish cross capons became less and less popular

that's very cool to learn about and yeah I wouldnt think of doint a surgery by myself since it is a pet and not a meat bird. and birds do very bad under anesthesia