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 



(Courtesy V. S. DepU Asriculture) 



Fig. 234. — Capons dressed for market. Conventional method of picking; the 

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



caponizing their surplus males, it has added several hundred 

 dollars a year to the net profits. Not onh- 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 ha\'e weighed 



