What would you do with your extra cockerels? Caponize?

[abhaya]

freezer camp

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I've raised both standard purebred and mixed-breed cockerels for the table and none of them are big enough for me to bother butchering at 15 weeks. That's why I wait until they're around 20-24 weeks. I like to wait until their drumsticks feel nice & meaty. When I pick one up and my mouth begins to water, I know they're old enough to eat.

I have NEVER had one that was tough or stringy. A lot has to do with how long you let them rest in the refrigerator before cooking (I allow 2-3 days) and being sure to cook them slowly with low heat and added moisture.

I've only just begun to caponize and I haven't yet decided if it's really worth the effort. I didn't find it very difficult to learn and only lost the very first one I worked on. Even he wasn't a total loss, I turned him over and practiced the technique on the other side and figured out then just what to do & how to do it. Thanks to God, I haven't lost any others since.

The finished capons I recently butchered weren't that noticeably different, not in size or texture. But it could be that I waited too long to operate (about 10 weeks) and I noticed that some of them were "slips" (there had been a tiny bit of the organ left behind which still exerted its influence on the bird). I have some more cockerel chicks that are now 7 & 11 weeks old. I've been wanting to operate on those older ones, but have been too busy with holiday things. I may have to just let them grow out intact, maybe after Christmas I'll have time to work on the younger ones. I'm sure I'll continue to experiment with other batches of chicks and maybe by next year I'll know for certain if I want to continue to make all my extra cockerels capons.