The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1905-11-29
Can the Capon Successfully be Used
as a Brooder?

We have recommended capohS aS
profitable for market and as desirable
for home use on account of the supe-
rior quality of their flesh. But here
is new use for them: writer, in
the Poultry Gazette, says that they
make the best breeders for your
chicks. If they will mother the chicks
at all they would not desert them so
early as many hens do. Often hen
will begin to lay before her chicks
are large enough to wean. If the capOn
would care for them at all he would
stay with them until they were grown.
The Gazette article is as follows:
Of late there has been not little
said in the poultry papers in regard to
the capOn and his advanced market
value Enough has been said to show
to every one that this is the more
profitable way to handle poor, ordinary
and common cockerels. Every pOul-
tryman who desires to improve the
quality i'm his flock should be induced
to try capOnizing.
1t is generally supposed that the
market is the only place where Mr..
Capon has any value. This is a mis-
take that 1 will undertake to show you,
as. the market is not the only place,
where capons are valuable.
Have any of you ever thought to
use the capon as a mother for your
little chicks, especially those Matched
i'm the incubator early i'm February and
March? Coop him "a hours without
feed or water and then give him the
chicks. Feed and water at the same
time: tap with end of finger on floor
of coop and listen to him cluck. He
will keep the chicks where other fowls
cannot bother them and in a few days
you will see that he is as proud of
the little ones as ever Mrs. Biddy is
and he will care for them just as care
fully and at the same time grow
enough to make it profitable to carry
him over till he is nearly two years
old before he is put on the market.
To those who have been slow about
buying an incubator on account of hav-
ing no confidence in a brOOder and
afraid they could not have hen that
they could give the chicks to, l will
say the capon will, if rightly handled,
accept and mother chicks after he has
nearly become an adult, and his
second years. growth will be about
One-half that of the first year if he is
handled carefully and not stunted, l. e.,
starved.
But the value of the capon does not
stop with this. He is valuable to the
fancier. In the show room with a
pen of five capons of each variety he
who breeds the fancier can show
how severe the culling of his flock has
been and especially if these capons
run well up in the large numbers and
if he has culled all of the flock that
are poorer than these five and those
that are their equal. You say it takes
nerve to do this. Well, l don't know
as it does. 1t requires more nerve for
me to write this article than it does
for me to go out and weed out the
common and poor birds from my flock
because 1 know that after they are
capOnized they are not as much bother
for me as even the hen and pullets are
and then my cock birds are much
better on the average that l enjoy
culling and that very close. Just try
it for the benefit of the experiment
and see if you do not have more con
fidence in yourself after that. And if
you do bear in mind that it will also
give you satisfied customers
is if YOU sell at reasonable prices