The Portland daily press., 1894-11-01
ALL ABOUT cAPoNs.
How the Caponizing Is Done-Best breed
to Operate On-Growth of Capons.


How the Caponizing Is Done-Best Breeda
TO Operate 0n-Growth of Capons.
L. Greiner Of New York, whose ex-
perlInents are always worth knowing
about, gives very interesting account
OF raising capons in a communication &c
Country Gentleman. His first trial was
made last year with many precautions.
This year, however, he has got, at 1t In
business way and makes short ana
successful work of it. He writes:
My way has been to shut up from
to 10 cockerels at night, leave them with
out food and drink until the second DAY
following and then caponize them. AS
soon as caponized the birds are placed
in small pen with an earthen floor,
where they are we'll fed with soft food
for few days, during which time they
are examined ence or twice and rellev-
ed Of wind puff, y if such happened to
occur, by a slit made into the puffed up
skin with the point Of a keen bladed
penknife. In a week or less we give the
birds their liberty and let another lot.
just caponized, take their places. fand,
however, that the birds when sklllfully
operated on are so little affected by be-
ing caponized that they will eat on the
operating table while undergoing the
operation Whether Kept in confinement
for few days Or given their liberty at
once, whether fed soft food or whole
grain, they are sure to heal up and re.
cover perfectly in abou5 weeks time.
Usually l open the birds on both
sides, finding it safer and more expedi-
tious than to try to remove both testi-
cles from one side Only when the low
er testicle appears in plain sight and in
a favorable position dc. I take both
from one opening, but even then, con-
trary to the ordinary directions, take
the upper one first, as find no difficult
ty to remove blood {should any appear
by means of soaking it up with a little
piece of moist sponge, and thus bring
the lower testicle in plain sight again.
When first began, I used the horse
hair canula. am now using thin tin
ned wire, such as beekeepers use for
fastening artificial comb foundations in
their frames, and find it far superior
to the manufacturers wire and to horse
hair as well. It's use simplifies and
shortens the task materially, for the
horseha1f often breaks and frequently
requires repeated trials before it can be
slipped around the testiele.
For years / have kept the Black
Langshans, and / yet consider them the
best general purpose fowl As winter
layers they are to hard to excel, but if
were to make a business of raising broil-
ers I think I would prefer Plymouth
Rocks. Leghorns are too small. For q
heavy, plump bodied broiler or capon
the Indian game will be hard to beat,
and it's crosses are also excellent, but as
egg layers the breed ranks very, very
low. We can caponize Langhans, Co
chins, Plymouth Rocks, Games, Leg
horns, ETC., and their crosses with
about equal ease. Only the Brabmas
have given us some trouble on account
of the wormlike shape Of their testicles.
Game Langshan crosses sometimes have
too much flesh on the ribs to show the
latter well, and we sometimes make the
inoision more by guesswork than by
sight or feeling Of the exact spot.
| Dealers i'll caponizing supplies almost
Invariably assert that capons grow fas-
ter and reach a greater weight than
roosters, but such is not my experience.
I have not been alberto discover much
difference in their respective rate of
| growth But it ascertain that capons
grow fatter and plhmper, and that their
meat is mnch sweeter and more tender.
I dislike the smell and favor of roosters
when it comes along in the winter or
toward spring, but | can find no fault
with the taste of oapon meat. The price
alone, compared with that of rooster
meat, proves the superior table qualiEv
| of the capon.