POULTRY FOR PROFIT 141 



skin. An experienced picker can dry-pick a bird in 

 less than a minute. 



CAPONS 



Very little has been done on this coast with capons, 

 but a wave of new interest is spreading over the Mid- 

 dle West, and it is bound to reach California sooner 

 or later. The arguments pro and con are: The 

 capons are made from late hatched cockerels which 

 would bring a very low price as broilers or fryers. 

 Unsexed and allowed to grow till February or March 

 they easily reach ten pounds in weight and bring 

 from twenty-five to twenty-eight cents a pound. On 

 the other hand, six months is a good while to feed a 

 bird, even though you make a profit of a dollar on 

 him, and he takes up room which is needed by the 

 growing pullets. These objections are trifling. The 

 more serious one and the one which probably deters 

 many persons from trying the experiment is that 

 capons cannot be made from Leghorns or any other 

 of the light breeds. The best capon is made from a v 

 Brahma or from a cross of a Dorking or Rock male 

 on a Brahma female. Orpingtons, Rocks and Wyan- 

 dottes make good capons, but they do not reach the 

 size that a Brahma capon does. In other words, in 

 order to make a success of caponizing it seems to be 

 necessary to keep a special breed for this special 

 purpose. The capon is not, except in a few instances, 

 a by-product of egg production, as broilers and fry- 

 ers are. Still, the Missouri Station says they are the 

 most profitable of all market poultry, and the man- 

 ager of a large Los Angeles commission house, whose 

 opinion I asked, held, that considering the cheapness 

 of eggs from which June chicks are hatched, capons 

 should be more profitable than early broilers. 



