360 



COMMERCIAL POULTRY RAISING 



of which only a very small percentage are required for breeding 

 purposes. Therefore, as a simple business principle, if we must 

 raise surplus cockerels, we should strive to convert them into a 

 profit, if only as a by-product. And if caponizing will bring this 

 about, it is the strongest argument in favor of the practice. 

 Since the poultry department at Cornell University has been 



Fig. 234. — Capons dressed for market. 



birds, however, are not in perfect condition of flesh. 



{Courtesy U. S. Dep't Asricullure) 

 Conventional method of picking; the 



caponizing their surplus males, it has added several hundred 

 dollars a year to the net profits. Not only are better prices re- 

 ceived for capons, but there is an increase in weight over the nor- 

 mal state for the same age and under precisely the same care and 

 feeding. In the same length of time it is possible to raise capons 

 that will weigh almost a half more than they would have weighed 



