When to start heavy protein feed and caponizing questions

[kukupecpec]

I am new to the chicken world, but am already completely addicted!
I plan to hatch my own birds to grow my flock and have decided to eat the extra roos that I can (as some of the breeds like seramas will probably not worth it).
I have read all over on BYC and I have found some good ideas for fattening up roos with high protein turkey feed and lots of corn. My question is, WHEN do I start feeding them on this fattening-up diet? I would like to eat them as soon as possible, and preferably before they get too noisey.

Caponizing - I have been reading about it, and seen some photos of the process, and was wondering a little more about it. I think it's something I would definitely like to try as I am planning to raise various laying breeds and am not interested in cornish or dual purpose birds. I am currently in a Vet Tech program, hoping to specialize as a surgical and anesthesia tech so I'm definitely not squeemish. I was wondering if anyone knows where to find the laws about this? I would hate to get in trouble for doing it at home if it's not legal.
Also, I haven't found anything about the "least cruel" way to go about this. The thread I found with good instructional pictures is getting a lot of heat for being "cruel" with lack of anesthetic etc. Does anyone have any ideas to make this as humane as possible? Should this even really be an option? Most of the threads I've found are a few years old so I'm not sure if this is something people still accept as a way to raise roos for eating.

 

[partsRheavy]

Caponizing is legal in USA, France and most other places but not in England or Germany.

Invest in a good stainless steel pressure cooker as well as a roaster pan. Have good knives and poultry shears on hand. Try butchering and pressure-cooking a regular rooster. Then compare results with results from a capon.

Our capons have had good breast meat after roasting, but the leg quarters were pretty tough. Used a standard oval covered enamel roaster pan. Maybe we cooked too fast at too high a temperature?

The _roos_ were only good after pressure cooking. Try to get a good-quality stainless steel pressure cooker that allows 15 psi as well as 10 psi. If you can order an uncoated stainless steel pressure cooker of 8-12 qt capacity that is better than the aluminum or nonstick versions. Probably need to order this online.

 

[McButterpants]

1.Pressure cooking is a great way to "force tenderness" into older tougher birds. Uncaponized mature roosters will fall into this category. The method we use at home for older birds is the low&long consume method (my wording).
Simply put placing the prepared birds in a large part with cold water some carrot, celery, onion and a couple of bay leaves (veggies can be omitted for a "purer" flavor).
Heat over moderate heat until just steaming and pour off the water (this removes some of the stronger flavors associated with sexually mature roosters, and can be skipped if you like the gaminess).
Refill the post with cold water and heat over low temp for 12-24 hours. The broth should be just steaming, but never come to a full simmer or any kind of agitation during the process.
Ladle out the consume, then gently remove the carcass and reserve.
Bring the broth to a low simmer, then allow to cool and freeze. You will end up with a clear extremely flavorful broth that can be used for everything and taste just plain amazing (don't forget to add some salt to taste).
I promise you will come to love your roos.
The meat will still be somewhat chewy but when finely chopped can be used in stuffing's, soups etc. to provide substance.
2. We caponize all our roos (the slips go to broth or get butchered early and we always seem to find an unwanted roo or 2 around butchering day for broth). I cant think anyone who has done the procedure more than a couple of time would think its cruel. While it may look that way to the uninitiated, the birds seem to be "uncomfortable" but not in any real pain. They don't like being held down and this seems to be the hardest part for them. After the operation my birds are up and scratching around within minutes as if nothing happened.
I have had the unfortunate experience of seeing my birds caught by hawks, dogs, foxes and a raccoon- that was nature and it was very cruel for my perspective way more so than anything done during a caponization.
I do put a baby's sock over my birds head when I'm operating as I b believe it helps to calm them.