CHAPTEE Yl 



TO FINISH AND DRESS CAPONS 



THE price of dressed capons in season is nearly 

 equal to that of broilers, while the cost per 

 pound to produce is far less. On many farms, 

 a number of young cockerels are kept through 

 the winter, growing but slowly and consuming their full 

 value in grain by February. If these had been capon- 

 ized the only added cost would have been a few minutes' 

 time and the loss of perhaps one bird in forty as the 

 result of accidents in operating, while the capon would 

 weigh at maturity nearly twice as much as the cockerel 

 and bring five to ten cents more per pound because of 

 his more soft and rich flavored meat. 



The idea applies especially well to late hatched 

 and autumn chickens which are too small to sell during 

 the holiday season. The pullets will make prime 

 summer layers, and the cockerels caponized will come 

 into market at the time when capon quotations are at 

 their best, in late spring and early summer. If the 

 house is warm and the winter not too severe they will 

 grow fairly well all winter and will increase in weight 

 rapidly as soon as milder weather begins. No surplus 

 males should be kept over winter uncaponized. 



Finishing Capons — The plan described below is 

 that used at the Ontario experimental farm, as related 

 by W. E. Graham. The illustration, Figure 8, shows 

 a capon ready for market. "The rations tend to pro- 

 duce a light, cream-colored flesh, which is in demand 

 in the English markets and the high class Canadian 

 trade. Where yellow flesh is in demand the addition 

 of a small proportion of yellow carrots, say one-sixth 

 of the ration, would tend to deepen the color. Cotton- 

 seed meal has the same tendency. 



