Birds are just right for caponizing, as a rule, from six weeks to three months old.

LEGHORNS, ANCONAS, and MEDITERRANEANS, should weigh about one pound.

ROCKS, WYANDOTTES, REDS, and other AMERICANS, are right when they weigh one pound and a half to two pounds.

BRAHMAS, COCHINS, ORPINGTONS, and all ASIATICS, should be caponized when they weigh from one and a half pounds to three pounds.

Fig. 1 Shows the bird with the wings and the legs tied. The hooks on the weights attached and so stretched out ready for the cut. The clear area and the line shows the proper location for the cut between the last two ribs as shown in Figure (A).

Confine the birds for two nights and a day in cool dark quarters, giving NO FOOD OR WATER during this time. Arrange A BARREL OR SMALL BOX at the right height for easy working, out in the open where it is in the DIRECT SUNLIGHT. If you wish to work indoors a lamp with a reflector, an ELECTRIC LIGHT OR SMALL DRY-CELL SPOT LIGHT IS EXCELLENT, as the light can be thrown right down into the cut. If you have a light of this sort you can work anywhere, any time.

PRACTICE ON A DEAD BIRD FIRST. Kill a fryer, then carry out all the steps of caponizing just the same as if the bird were alive. This will give you the hang of the work better than all the reading you can do.

Fig. 2 Shows the cut opened up by means of the spreader and the membrane over the bowels is now in view. Stab this membrane close up to the chick's back with the tissue forceps closed and tightly pressed together.

CATCH THE BIRD

TIE ITS TWO WINGS TOGETHER over its back passing the cord around the first joint of the wing. TIE THE LEGS TOGETHER then place the chick on its side with its BREAST TOWARD YOU, on the barrel top where you wish to work. Slip ONE HOOK, with its attached brick, over the tie of the wings, slip THE OTHER HOOK, with its brick, over the tie on the legs.

From a half to a whole brick is the right weight, depending upon the size of the bird. Be sure that the bird is well stretched out. Pull out the feathers from the chick's side just in front of the thigh and below the back (see Fig. 1). Wipe off this spot with a little clean water, Lysol, carbolic acid, or any weak antiseptic solution.

NOW FEEL WITH THE RING OR INDEX FINGER OF THE LEFT HAND AND LOCATE THE SPACE between the LAST TWO RIBS; then with the fingers pull the skin down from the head over the flesh as far as possible toward the tail of the chicken when the skin is pulled down as far as possible.

Fig. 3 Shows the opening in the membrane enlarged by allowing the tissue-forceps to spring apart, note the testicle showing in the opening.

Be gentle, slow and firm in all movements. Place the knife on the skin over the space between the last two ribs. BEAR DOWN and make a cut between the last two ribs about an inch long, going down between the ribs. Hold the skin back and INSERT THE SPREADER CLOSED, between the cut edges of the skin and ribs. Open the spreader so that the ends are from a half to three-quarters of an inch apart. Slide the hook on the spreader up so that it holds the spreader open at just the distance you wish. Now the membrane covering the bowels appears in the cut as shown in Fig. 2.

Now take the TISSUE FORCEPS, with the two prongs tight together push it through the membrane in the upper part of the cut (Fig. 2). Allow the two prongs to separate by the natural spring of the instrument, thus enlarging the hole in the membrane (Fig. 3).

If the opening is not large enough now tear it larger if necessary, by catching the edge of the opening in the membrane with the Tissue Forceps and tearing it as much as needed. The testicle now shows in the upper part of the cut, right on the chick's back with the red kidney behind it and the darker yellow adrenal gland at the upper point of the testicle.

Fig. 4 Shows the membrane all torn away and the bowel pushed down out of the way. The testicle shows plainly now on the chick's back and is ready to be threaded through the eye of the elevator.

The testicle itself is a long, yellow, bean-like body of a very light color. TAKE THE ELEVATOR INSTRUMENT in hand. Hold it lightly like a pen, put it down into the cut pointing it toward the chick's head.

Be gentle, slow and firm in all movements.

THREAD THE TESTICLE (Fig. 5) through the eye of the elevator from the head of the bird towards the tail - no force is necessary to do this. If any force is necessary the testicle is not going on properly and the direction should be changed. After, at most, one or two trys the testicle slips on. The testicle should be threaded on the elevator from the tail of the bird to the head on the right side.

When the testicle is completely threaded onto the elevator and the butt of the elevator is visible at the end of the testicle (Fig. 5-B) the elevator should be pulled toward you and twisted. CONTINUE TWISTING AND ELEVATING at the same time that you twist, never let up elevating keep

	Fig. 5 Shows the elevator being slipped on to the testicle, from the head of the chick to the tail usually, but from tail to head will work, by threading it through the eye of the instrument.
(Patent Pending)

pulling ALL the TIME. This will gradually bring the testicle up out of the cut and also twists the blood vessels attaching it to the back into a cord which can now be cut with the scissors or knife as shown in Fig. 6.

If, when the testicle is partly elevated, it seems to be coming sort if hard with the TISSUE FORCEPS, you can grasp the membranes immediately below the elevator and then pull up on them with this direct grasp. This trick gives you a better grip on the membranes. Once in a while the testicle will be pulled off of its cord and will drop back among the bowels. If this happens the testicle should be picked up by using the Tissue Forceps. If the birds are a trifle old and the testicles larger it is best to thread the testicle on from

	Fig. 5-A Shows in diagram the testicle being threaded into the elevator. Usually you begin at the head of the chick and thread from head to tail, elevate and loosen up the head of the testicle. Remove the elevator and then thread from the tail to the head and complete the elevation in this way.
(Patent Pending)

head to tail; elevate enough to loosen up the head end of the testicle, then remove the elevator and thread it onto the testicle again from the tail to the head this time and complete the removal. Now remove the spreader and allow the cut to close up. You can take one or two stitches to close the cut if you wish to, using an ordinary large sewing needle and black thread. These threads do not need to be removed.

TO REMOVE THE OTHER TESTICLE turn the chick over on the other side and proceed exactly as you did on the first side.

AFTER CARE

Confine the chicks and feed soft light food for two days and then they can be allowed to run. Occasionally the region of the cut puffs out, a so-called WIND-PUFF. The thin skin covering the puff should be stuck with a

	Fig. 5-B Shows in diagram the testicle completely threaded into the elevator ready to be twisted, elevated and removed. Note that you can see the butt of the elevator beyond the end of the testicle. Conditions are now right to pull up and turn. You can make from one to three or four complete turns pulling up steadily all the time.
(Patent Pending)

sharp-pointed knife or a thread on a large cambric needle may be passed through the skin covering the puff and the thread tied tightly. It is not necessary to remove the thread. If the puff comes back repeat.

CARE OF TOOLS

When through using the instruments soak them in cold water till all blood and dirt is removed. Wipe them dry and then coat them with a little vaseline, and they will keep bright indefinitely.

	Fig. 6 Shows the testicle after it has been threaded, twisted and elevated out of the chick's body. The attachments of the testicle to the body have been twisted into a cord and are now ready to be cut by knife or scissors.
(Patent Pending)

Webmasters Note: This web page was copied verbatim from an original copy of the Sears Caponizing Kit instruction booklet. For a printable booklet formatted PDF version, click on the link below.

CAPON2.PDF (251K)

To print the booklet, load the PDF file into the Acrobat Reader and print pages 1, 3, and 5 first. Then put them back in the printer in the proper order and print pages 2, 4, and 6. (These page numbers correspond to the print menu in the Acrobat program and not the page numbers that appear on the bottom of the pages.) You should then have three double sided sheets. Stack them appropriately, staple in the middle, and fold into a booklet. Your new printed booklet is virtually identical to the original Sears booklet.

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