CASTRATIOX OF THE BIRD 



225 



Fig". 80 shows a Barred Plymouth Rock capon and a Barred 

 Plymouth Rock cock. Note difference in head and general 

 appearance between the capon and the cock. Capons are 

 usually marketed at about ten months of age. 



OVARIECTOMY OF THE PULLET 



An unsexed (spayed) pullet is called a poulard. Spayed 

 pullets make more rapid growth without the handicap of egg 

 production, at a later stage, and the meat is of improved 

 quality and flavor. The spayed pullet takes on some of the 



Fig. 80. 1, capon; 2, cock, 



appearance of a cockerel. The poulard, like the capon, be- 

 comes an outcast and is never known to cackle. 



The pullets are usually operated upon at about the same 

 age as in caponizing the cockerel and usually in the late 

 spring or early summer. The pullets are prepared in the 

 same manner as cockerels for caponizing. The incision is 

 made in a similar manner as in the cockerel and the unde- 

 veloped e^^ cluster is found in the pullet in a similar location 

 to that of the testicles in the cockerel. With a pair of artery 

 forceps grasp the undeveloped oviduct, which will be found 

 to be about the size of a broom straw, and remove about one 

 inch of this and the ovary. Care must be taken not to cut 

 or rupture any of the lare^e abdominal blood vessels lying 

 just ])ack of the ovary and against the vertebrae (a similar 

 precaution as in caponizing) . The removal of a section of the 



