164: ANIMAL CASTRATION. 



the first t-welve and nothing during the last twelve 

 hours — twenty-four hours all told. 



After Treatment. — Soft and easily digested food for 

 three or four days. 



Operation. — Place the chick on the operating 

 table, laying him upon his right side ; pass the run- 

 ning loop of one cord around both legs and allow the 

 weight to hang down over the side of the table; pass 

 the running loop of the second cord around both 

 wings close to the body, allowing the weight to hang 

 over the opposite side of the table. The chick is 

 now held motionless and the operating region ex- 

 posed. 



With the left hand push forward the long feathers 

 of the breast, and with the right hand pluck the few 

 feathers covering the last two ribs. 



Still holding the feathers with the left hand, make 

 an incision between the last two ribs, from the verte- 

 bra downwards toward the sternal cartilage ; make 

 this incision about one and one-half inches long, and, 

 if necessary, cut through the sternal cartilage. 



Introduce the spreading forceps between the ribs, 

 and spread them apart sufficiently to allow the in- 

 troduction of the extracting forceps. 



Carefully cut through the peritoneum, and the 

 testicles are exposed one on each side of the vertebra 

 just anterior to the kidneys. 



Introduce the extracting forceps and grasp the 

 lower testicle and remove it, cutting the cord as high 

 as possible, after which remove the upper testicle in 

 the same way (I select the lower testicle first, for if 



