The Front Porch Swing

[LadyCluck77]

That's a beautiful olive egg! I need an olive egger hen. I tried making some this past spring but they turned out as boys.

I have five non-keep roosters right now. We moved their enclosure today to give them more space. Found some cheap chicken wire rolls, and made an extra run area for them. We let them out to free range while we worked on it, but now they aren't coming back to it!

They are infatuated with the hen pen area, won't leave it, though they can't find a way in, probably a sign they are reaching maturity, or at least the randy teenage boy phase. I've never seen the wingtip dragging dance so much in one day. I keep trying to catch them, but are they ever fast runners!

 

[enola]

I hope to get set up for raising most of the meat that I eat after I get moved........ where I am now I just can't swing it. I plan on raising my meat chickens and finishing them on ground oats and barley soaked in goats milk. I would like trying to learn how to caponize cockerels so they don't get all filled with hormones and ruin the meat.

 

[LadyCluck77]

I hope to get set up for raising most of the meat that I eat after I get moved........ where I am now I just can't swing it. I plan on raising my meat chickens and finishing them on ground oats and barley soaked in goats milk. I would like trying to learn how to caponize cockerels so they don't get all filled with hormones and ruin the meat.

They sell kits to make Capons, and I'm very interested, from what I read about it, the process helps prevent aggressive behavior and also greatly increases weight and quality of meat on the body. Kind of like making beef steers, but with chickens.
Do you recommend a certain age to do it? I wonder if this group is too old now. They hatched on Easter.

 

[vehve]

I'm personally a bit against untrained people performing surgery without the means to do anything if something goes wrong, especially when it's done without any sort of anesthetics or pain relief. But I also live in Europe where caponizing is illegal, so I've grown up with a bit different set of values. I don't think ripping the testicles off of piglets is a very humane thing to do either, at least without pain medication.

No need to comment back, just my personal thoughts on the matter.

 

[enola]

Cockerels should be done at a pretty young age. Like 10 or 12 weeks. The testicles need to be very small. Trying to get a mature testicle out of a rooster would require a large incision. It would be very difficult to be able to grasp the testicle for removal.

 

[vehve]

Cockerels should be done at a pretty young age. Like 10 or 12 weeks. The testicles need to be very small. Trying to get a mature testicle out of a rooster would require a large incision. It would be very difficult to be able to grasp the testicle for removal.

Here's a pic of a testicle at 16 weeks.


It's the rightmost organ in the picture, it was about 3cm (a bit over an inch) long.

 

[enola]

That is exactly why the procedure needs to be done before hormones kick in. The procedure is not as simple as making a tiny slit in the skin and then pulling the testicles out..........

Can you find a picture of testicles st the age of 10 to 12 weeks?

 

[vehve]

That is exactly why the procedure needs to be done before hormones kick in. The procedure is not as simple as making a tiny slit in the skin and then pulling the testicles out..........

I saw some thread where they had documented the procedure with pictures. I was shocked about what kind of instruments were used, no understanding of what can happen when poking inside something with unsterilized instruments (I think a straw was one of the instruments used).

But yeah, if someone tries this out, I would definitely do it even before the roo starts crowing (we had one doing that at 9 weeks), and I would pay a lot of attention to using only sterile instruments. Also, using the ice as recommended in the instructions I saw isn't really doing much in the way of pain management. I doubt many men around here would want to experience getting their jangly bits frozen before having them ripped out.

 

[perchie.girl]

Quote:
Caponizing is falling by the wayside for Production Poultry Producers (hows that for an illiteration) with the development of Cornish Cross birds developed for meat production.... The Bresse are also a good choice. I hear though that the meat from a Capon can fetch really big $$$ per pound. Not advocating one way or another... Its my spongy Bwains....

.

deb

 

[LindaB220]

Meat tasted differently in Europe... cleaner. I used to love pork, but in the US it has a funky taste.. I find myself wanting to eat it less and less. Probably because everything ate a whole lot more grass. Pigs on the other hand got a lot of scraps

I worked in a bakery, end of the day a farmer came and picked up all the stuff that wasn't sold and gave it to the pigs..

I wouldn't trade living in the US for anything. But I do miss the food supply. It was less tampered with.

That's a most interesting post. I would not have any idea 'cause, you know, always live in the US