GRAPHIC PICS of my day learning to caponize

[BCMaraniac]

We lost him a little over a week ago in a fox attack. Lost 8 other birds that day, and the BA capon was dinged up pretty bad, so I went on and processed him. He was mostly just pretty feathers, about 7lb and just under one lb of that fat. He had loads of it in his rear and around his gizzard. Still translated to to 3 batches of delicious home fries and one divine crock of soup. He was about a year old, so I opted not to roast.

Needed the grow out pen, so I processed the BCMs that Hapless and I had fixed... going to try them as fryers this week. They were looking slippy, and sure enough, several had the round white regrowths in there. Need to master the thread tool next batch.

MD, I am so sorry to hear about your birds.

I still haven't processed my big capon. I was supposed to process him for Easter, but some stuff came up which prevented me from doing it in time for proper rest time. So, I successfully procrastinated again.

I am looking forward to trying my new kit. I hope I can get the technique down, since I will have a lot of Bresse chicks to caponize this year.

 

[Maggiesdad]

That is horrible lost your hard work to a preditor.

It's a gamble, free ranging them like I do.

I'm working at ringing the "chicken zone" with electric fence, but they use about 3 acres... And I want my dogs to have access to those areas, too. It's definitely a challenge.

 

[Maggiesdad]

MD, I am so sorry to hear about your birds.

I still haven't processed my big capon. I was supposed to process him for Easter, but some stuff came up which prevented me from doing it in time for proper rest time. So, I successfully procrastinated again.

I am looking forward to trying my new kit. I hope I can get the technique down, since I will have a lot of Bresse chicks to caponize this year.

You are really going to enjoy the Bresse on the table. A friend sent me some eggs and what hatched was all boys, so I fixed them since they weren't a breed I'm currently working with. They were outstanding!

 

[HaplessRunner]

We lost him a little over a week ago in a fox attack. Lost 8 other birds that day, and the BA capon was dinged up pretty bad, so I went on and processed him. He was mostly just pretty feathers, about 7lb and just under one lb of that fat. He had loads of it in his rear and around his gizzard. Still translated to to 3 batches of delicious home fries and one divine crock of soup. He was about a year old, so I opted not to roast.

Needed the grow out pen, so I processed the BCMs that Hapless and I had fixed... going to try them as fryers this week. They were looking slippy, and sure enough, several had the round white regrowths in there. Need to master the thread tool next batch.

Since my flock is recovering, I may have some cockerels that I may caponize in about four weeks. These are excess cream legbar cockerels. The challenge for me is that they need to grow out sufficiently so I can see whether their colors are correct which require grow out time. So it is very likely that some of my caponizing will be with older cockerels.

 

[BCMaraniac]

It's a gamble, free ranging them like I do.

I'm working at ringing the "chicken zone" with electric fence, but they use about 3 acres... And I want my dogs to have access to those areas, too. It's definitely a challenge.

My layers free range, and I have been fortunate enough to not have not lost any to predators. They do have lots of cover to get under, and my GP runs off aerial and ground predators. I have just enclosed a field for my Bresse to free range in and my big concern are the aerial predators because of the lack of cover. There is cover on one end but a good bit of open space. I have an Australian Shepherd that I plan to keep in the field with them, and my GP has "taught" her to bark at aerial predators as well(she even barks at the finches), so I am hopeful she will keep the birds safe.

 

[HLAC]

I have some 8 week old barred rocks that I'm hoping to caponize in the next few days. I do have some questions for the folks that have had success with this.

1) Will 12 hours without food be long enough? Can they have water during this time?

2) How active are the birds after the procedure? I don't have a good way of keeping them separated from the pullets afterwards. The birds are all the same age and have a big area to hang out. I'm thinking the pullets will just go out and run around in the yard like usual while the patients recuperate and stay in/near the coop.

Thanks!

 

[BCMaraniac]

I have some 8 week old barred rocks that I'm hoping to caponize in the next few days. I do have some questions for the folks that have had success with this.

1) Will 12 hours without food be long enough? Can they have water during this time?

2) How active are the birds after the procedure? I don't have a good way of keeping them separated from the pullets afterwards. The birds are all the same age and have a big area to hang out. I'm thinking the pullets will just go out and run around in the yard like usual while the patients recuperate and stay in/near the coop.

Thanks!

The longer the fast, the emptier the gut which makes visibility better through a small incision. Most people fast them 24-36 hours, and it needs to be in a cage where they can't get to shavings because they will eat those if they have no food. I usually take water away in the afternoon the day before the procedure.

Afterward, assuming no complications, they eat and walk around, etc. It is best to have them contained in an area where they can't roost for a few days. They shouldn't fly and flap their wings, so the incision will close up nicely

Having them with the pullets is generally not a problem, especially at that age. That's been my experience, anyway. Mature hens might get persnickety with them, but I have never put mine in with hens, so I wouldn't know.

Make sure that you put them in a clean pen to minimize risk of infection, though I am not aware of any folks here who have had problems with infection.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

 

[Kassaundra]

I agree a 24 at least hour fast is better and the last 12 w/o water. If they continue to have access to water they will fill their digestive tract w/ water. The fast is all about flat intestines for better visualizing, and the difference is drastic.

Mine all go together afterwards too, (same age that is) w/o any problems. The wings cover over the sites very well, they heal pretty quickly.

 

[RogerShoaf]

I will be doing some caponizing in a few weeks for the first time. In reading everything I can so far, I understand that the cause of the slips are a small chunk of the testicle remains on the vas deferens and then re-grows.

I wonder if it would be more effective to either sever or cauterize the vas deferens and then extract the testicle? Seems to me that even if the testicle fell apart during the extraction, it would have no blood supply and therefore you would assure a "no slip" procedure.

Any thoughts?

 

[Ksane]

I will be doing some caponizing in a few weeks for the first time.    In reading everything I can so far, I understand  that the cause of the slips are a small chunk of the testicle remains on the vas deferens and then re-grows.

I wonder if it would be more effective to either sever or cauterize the vas deferens and then extract the testicle?  Seems to me that even if the testicle fell apart during the extraction, it would have no blood supply and therefore you would assure a "no slip" procedure. 

Any thoughts?

You hit it right on the head, Roger. I know chickens and dogs and cats are different but my experience has been years of working for a (very good) vet and helping in surgery. He liked to explain step by step through his surgeries no matter how many years we'd been listening. And he always stressed to get ahold of the vas deferens as far back away from the testicle as possible before severing it. I made a special point of doing that the day we had the caponizing clinic at Poco's house. I bought a cauterizer but I think the area you've got to work with is just so tiny it would be hard to get in there with it and not accidentally cauterize the intestine. However making darn sure you've got the entire testicle and making sure to cut as far back as you can from that (I believe) is the trick to avoiding slips. When you use the straight "grab and pull" technique there's just no way to control making sure you get every piece of that tiny chunk of testicle. It feels like the piece of fat in a can of pork and beans lol
I've got 3 Brahma boys I'm doing today, the 1st ones I'll be doing alone. You've made me feel better though. At least my 1st set 2 months ago was done under the watchful eyes of 2 mentors. You're beyond brave to attempt it alone the 1st time!