TEE AORICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



469 



to the backbone. A practised hand is able 

 to do the whole operation with very little 

 bloodshed by carefully cutting on a line 

 with the veins and not crossing them. 

 However the presence of blood is no evi- 

 dence of failure, for the best operator may 

 cause bleeding accidentally. Should 

 there be much, wipe it off with a damp 

 rag or small sponge before proceeding 

 further, otherwise it may run into the 

 wound, cover the testicles, and make the 

 lower one hard to find ; if it should so 

 happen the blood can be scooped out. 

 There is a fine membrane covering the 

 testicles, which must be torn open with 

 the hook at the reverse end of the scoop- 

 twister. Just tear the skin enough to get 

 the instrument through, and care must be 

 taken, or you may puncture the intestines 

 or an artery. The bowels can be pushed 

 aside with the spatula in the left hand, 

 and then just below you will see the left 

 testicle. Introduce the scoop-twistei- (or 

 if working with the canula make use of 

 the spoon to get the horsehair loop over 

 the testicle) with the right hand, and 

 manipulate it, endways if possible, into 

 such a position that the fine cord that 

 attaches the testicle settles well into the 

 slot in the scoop When this is right begin 

 to twiFt the testicle off. This part is the 

 most difficult to describe, and is where 

 the beginner finds greatest difficulty. 

 Patience is everything, do not hurry or 

 get fiujiied, and if there is trouble in 

 getting the testicle into the scoop use the 

 sjiatula either to assist it or to keep 

 the intestines out of the way while 

 njauipulating the scoop. It is always 

 best to remove the left or lower tes- 

 ticle first Kecause it is the hardest to 

 get at. If the right is taken first 

 and the bird bleeds at all, the blood 

 will cover the other and so obscure it that 

 there will be difficulty in getting hold of 

 it. Get the left one out first, and the 

 other can be got with little or no trouble. 

 The whole of the testicles must be re- 

 moved' or the work is useless. The 

 smallest piece left behind will grow and 

 your bird will not be a capon. Among 

 farmers such birds are called " slips," and 

 they are far more trouble in the yard 

 than cokerels. If you should fail to get 

 the whole of the testicle at first, try again 

 and persevere until every particle is re- 

 moved, even if it be but the size of a 

 small bead. 



Leghorn and Game cockerels are about 

 the most troublesome to operate on, be- 

 cause the testicles are very large and so 

 apt to break and have to be removed in 

 pieces, for which reason it is as well to 

 treat them somewhat younger than other 

 breeds. Four months is the favourite age 

 in France, but Leghorns and Game are 

 better done at three ; in fact, all can be 

 operated on from eleven or twelve weeks 

 old up to five months. There is no 

 occasion to sew up the wound, though 

 some caponisers do it. If the skin has 

 been drawn back as directed it will return 

 to its place and cover the underneath cut, 

 then the feathers, once dry, will cover the 

 wound in the skin. Some operators do 

 both sides instead of taking both the 

 testicles from the one. I do not know 

 why this is, because it is not difficult to 

 remove both from the same side, and one 

 would naturally think the one wound 

 sufficient. However, as I have remarked 

 before in these columns, every man has 

 his own way of working ship — " Lay aft 

 and haul down the jib" — and no doubt 

 caponisiug is no exception. 



The day following the operation, if 

 there should be any appearance of windy 

 swelling close to the wound, a darning 

 needle just run into the bubble once will 

 let the air escape. The birds can be 

 cooped for a couple of days or not, 

 according to circumstances. If there 

 are other birds likely to molest or fight 

 them, then pen the capons up for a day 

 or so till the wounds heal, and they can 

 be fed on soft food for a day or so. 

 As a rule, they do not appear any the 

 worse for the operation, nor is there 

 any difference in them for the first month 

 or six weeks ; but then they begin 

 to grow and put on flesh, and betray 

 a changed and converted spirit. They 

 become gentle and humble, and are in- 

 clined to turn the other cheek when the 

 master of the harem talks largely and 

 smites heavily. For a few weeks they 

 appear to think deeply upon the social 

 evil, finally arriving at the conclusion 

 that their mission in this life is to rock 

 the cradles other roosters fill, and like 

 other brave (though featherless) bipeds, 

 these martyrs to a scientific age become 

 mothers to all the motherless chickens, 

 and grow fat and tender in the perpetual 

 contemplation of their own enforced 

 virtue, and a rooted conviction of what 



