We started out using a capon as a chick nanny on the extra cockerels I got from Luanne - that one is Cappy and he is still with his remaining new capons. He does seem to be a bit attached to them, as I went out the other morning and saw him lightly pecking at one to try to wake it ... when I got closer I saw that would be a hopeless cause. No apparent injury or illness on that one (the Wyandotte) so I am figuring he must have thrown a clot after the surgery or something not visible like that.
Our second nanny-capon is Puffy, the one who windpuffed so bad. He is in with his Silkie chicks, which now number only ten. We have been losing Silkie chicks every so often, and it is always the smallest, least active/vigorous, so I wonder if they are just more delicate or fragile than the regular-feathered chicks. What is truly adorable - and no, I have not yet gotten a pic of this - is when the Silkie chicks cuddle up to Puffy, and then one peeks up at me from under his wing. Here is the closest pic I have to Puffy cuddling with his Silkie chicks.
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| Puffy the nanny-capon and one of his Silkie chiks |
Now last night, hubby picked out a capon - the single combed one, who mellowed out significantly when caponized - to put in with the cull Wyandotte pullets from Cackle. This morning, I had to lure him out, as he had all the chicks huddled into a corner. So, while most capons will nanny chicks, not all will. But, as Meatloaf sang years ago, "Two outta three ain't bad."
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