Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/138

 capons has been carried to its highest perfection. Caponizing should be practiced at an early date in the life of the young bird. In fact, as soon as the distinction in sex is well marked in the young chicken the removal of the testes should take place. The young fowl is laid upon its left side and the skin is exposed by pulling back the feathers and trimming them off at the proper place until the space between the first and second ribs of the right side is laid bare. An incision is then carefully made and the testes removed by instruments particularly adapted for that purpose. The operation should be done by an expert although theoretically it appears easy of accomplishment. In practice, however, it requires an expert to avoid any injury to the bird and to insure a speedy recovery. When done in the proper way, apparently no great inconvenience attends the operation. There is little blood shed and usually no inflammation when the proper antiseptic measures are provided.

The capon develops a bird that apparently has little to do except grow fat and prepare itself for the market. The caponized bird often develops brooding instincts and when eggs are hatched by the heat of the bird the capon makes a better brooder than the hen because of the greater spread of the wings and the larger number of eggs that can be covered in the operation. The larger breeds of birds make the best capons such as the brahmas and plymouth rocks. The capons are fattened and prepared for the market as in the case of other birds. When skimmed milk is made a large portion of the diet the flesh is considered to be of greater value. The best age for marketing a capon is at about twelve months. At that time they have attained their full size and their maximum degree of excellence as a food bird. The feeding should be done upon the principles already described, namely, to keep the birds growing in the usual way until about three or four weeks before the market when the extra food is given in as large quantities as possible for quick fattening. In Europe this extra food is usually given mechanically under the forced system though in this country the mechanical method of feeding capons has not generally been introduced.

Capons bring a higher price upon the market than the other varieties of chicken, sometimes the difference being as much as four or five cents a pound. For this reason the growth of capons becomes more profitable to the farmer than that of the ordinary chicken.

Duck (Anas boschas).—The domesticated duck is used very largely for food in all parts of the world. Its flavor is not so highly prized as that of the wild duck but it is an excellent article of diet. The production of ducks is conducted in the same manner as the production of poultry in general. They are still chiefly grown upon the farm without any special care but the best results are obtained by the systematic growth of ducks under scientific conditions in poultry houses. The duck is not so extensively used for food as the turkey and chicken but perhaps in this country much more extensively