POULTRY FLESH AND FATTENING 
one side or both sides may be opened. The cockerel should 
be starved for twenty-four hours in order to empty the intes- 
tines. Asiatics are more difficult to operate on than Ameri- 
cans, the testicles being larger and less firm. There is always 
some danger of causing death by tearing blood vessels, but 
the per cent. of loss with an experienced operator 1s very 
small. Loss by inflammation is still more rare. The testicle 
of a bird is not as highly developed as in a mammal, and if 
the organ is broken and a small fragment remains attached it 
will produce birds known as slips. Some growers advise 
looking over the capons and puncturing the wind puffs that 
gather beneath the skin. This, however, is not necessary. 
A good set of tools is indispensable and can be purchased 
for from $2 to $3. As a complete set of instructions is fur- 
nished with each set it is unnecessary to go into details here. 
The beginner should, however, operate on several dead cock- 
erels before attempting to operate on a live one. 
After caponizing the bird should be given plenty of soft feed 
and water. The capon begins to eat almost immediately after 
the operation is performed, and no one would suppose that a 
radical change had taken place in his nature. 
The feeding of capons differs little from the feeding of other 
growing chickens. Corn, wheat, barley and Kaffir-corn would 
be suitable grain, while beef-scrap would be necessary to pro- 
duce the best growth. 
About three weeks before marketing place the capons in 
small yards and feed them three or four times a day, giving 
plenty of corn and other feed, or fatten them in one of the 
ways indicated in the section on fattening poultry. Corn meal 
and ground oats, equal parts by weight, moistened with water 
or milk, make a good mash for fattening capons. 
In dressing capons leave the head and hackle feathers, the 
feathers on the wings to the second joint, the tail feathers, 
including those a little way up the back, and the feathers on 
the legs halfway up to the thigh. These feathers serve to dis- 
tinguish capons from other fowls in the market. Do not cut 
the head off, for this is also a distinguishing feature of the . 
capon, on account of the undeveloped comb and wattles. 
The price received for capons is greater than any other kind 
of poultry meat except early broilers. There may be trouble 
in some localities in getting dealers to recognize capons as 
such and pay an advanced price. 
On several farms in Massachusetts, 500 to 1,000 capons are 
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