What are these? Graphic image.

[Parront]

Found this in the store chicken and thought of this conversation, so I took a photo. It is about the size of one of the rivets on my knife. Hard to notice if you are not looking when you cut up the chicken.

 

[Kusanar]

Found this in the store chicken and thought of this conversation, so I took a photo. It is about the size of one of the rivets on my knife. Hard to notice if you are not looking when you cut up the chicken.View attachment 1909363

Yep, there was one that size laying on the table in the original post as well.

 

[Ginmary]

I wish there was someone in NJ who could caponize my 2 Serama roos so that I could keep them....

 

[Compost King]

I should have taken a picture of the ones I pulled out of that grayish black meat bird I processed. Giant and Black. Would have been great for making jokes we aren't allowed to post in here but we can sure think of them on our own at home.

 

[Compost King]

I wish there was someone in NJ who could caponize my 2 Serama roos so that I could keep them....

My Seramas crow sound so much different that people mistake it for a wild bird. I am hearing impaired so I do not hear my Seramas unless they are right on my shoulder but I can hear large fowl and even bantams from quite a distance. Maybe you can get away with keeping a Serama Rooster. But then again I do not know how strict rule enforcement is where you live.

 

[Parront]

I should have taken a picture of the ones I pulled out of that grayish black meat bird I processed. Giant and Black. Would have been great for making jokes we aren't allowed to post in here but we can sure think of them on our own at home.

I should have put a ruler in the photo, but a knife is what was in my hand. It is smaller than a little fingernail. It would not have been difficult to caponise at that size. I would certainly try & caponise some males to grow them out past the first crow! Nothing to loose, if I kill him trying, I don't have to keep feeding him. If successful, I get a tastier, bigger dinner.

 

[Compost King]

I actually fear caponizing them, I won't do it. I prefer to just process them so young that it doesn't matter. But you are right about not having to feed them anymore. Its worth a shot because Failure has its own reward at that point.

 

[Parront]

I actually fear caponizing them, I won't do it. I prefer to just process them so young that it doesn't matter. But you are right about not having to feed them anymore. Its worth a shot because Failure has its own reward at that point.

For some birds, they aren't worth it to try to caponise them. For example, I used to keep brown Leghorns. They will never be big, anyway, so as soon as they started to act male, BBQ time. But some of the bigger breeds, like Orpingtons, need more time to fill out and sometimes I just had to process them early because they were causing trouble. (And I was running out of rooster holding pens)! I just ate them early then, but now that I have been studying the thread on here about doing capons, and I would try it. And, I think it would be interesting to see if the capon would really raise my chicks!

 

[EggWalrus]

One way of looking at it is, you can go ahead and harvest one that has just started trying to crow or try caponizing him. If you're successful, you get a bigger, better tasting bird, but if you're not successful you were gonna kill him anyway. You have nothing to lose by trying it.
It wouldn't hurt to read up on it, practice on a dead one (count ribs to know which ribs to go thru), then just try it.
Caponization kit are sold online with rib spreaders, scapels and the little hook that makes it easy.
https://www.mcmurrayhatchery.com/caponizing_kit.html
How to video

 

[aart]

Found this in the store chicken....Hard to notice if you are not looking when you cut up the chicken.

Never really noticed them in store chickens until I started slaughtering my own birds.
Them little baby(8wo?) store birds have tiny gonads .

Just slaughtered five 14wo cockerels, interesting range of size from about 3/4 to 1 1/2" long(guesstimate, no tape measure or camera were employed).