I can't have capon it's illegal!

[hc4361]

I phoned my butcher to order a capon for Christmas only to be told it is not legal to caponize a cockerel in the UK so only imported birds are available.

I don't eat imported meat or poultry, so that's the capon out.

Does anyone know when it became illegal?

[B00]

It's not.

I'd find another butcher :-)

[hc4361]

It IS, boo, it really is.

[factor-fiction]

I heard Batman always used to have a capon .

[mazie]

Well, I've just read how they are Caponised (not sure that's a word) and it sounds dreadful! Think I'll stick to Turkey

[hc4361]

It says so, here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/capon

[wolf63]

I didn't know what a Capon was so went googling to find out.

I think from scanning the articles below that chemical castration is illegal but surgical castration is not.
If all else fails I have a castrated cat for sale. 5kg - should feed your family.

http://www.guardian.c...0,5753,-49244,00.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3ACapon

[B00]

Doesn't mean to say you can't still buy them, if you so wanted. The practice itself is in the UK, but not the buying and or selling of it.

[squarebear]

It's been illegal to caponise them since at least 2007 but not illegal to sell them. This is due to animal welfare grounds.

[hc4361]

I wouldn't eat a chemically castrated bird, surgically castrated ones are illegal too.

[dotty.]

it's not illegal to buy or sell one but it is illegal to chemically create one, why would anyone want a capon when they know it contains chemicals?

[hc4361]

But I don't buy imported poultry, boo.

[B00]

Ahhh, then you're goosed...now there's an idea!

;-)

[Smowball]

Well you're really stuffed - boom boom!!

[maggiebee]

Red pepper and brazil nut loaf is fabulous for Christmas lunch.

[rojash]

There seems to be some dispute about this. Some claim that capons are legel but caponization is not, others that caponization by chemical means is banned but legal using the traditional method. Some claim that while the latter is true, the traditional skill has been lost. These farmers should know the truth: http://aylesbury.duck.../richard/waller/capon

[magsmay]

why should it be illegal to castrate a bird yet male lambs and calves are castrated soon after birth?

[hc4361]

It'll will have to be goose.

[hc4361]

rojash, that website is not truthful.
A large chicken is not a capon and capons have not been banned for 40 years.

[hc4361]

It seems that all male chicks are doomed to death soon after hatching.

[Anngel]

What is better about a capon? I understood that the girl birds have more breast meat. But do the boy birds have bigger legs? Not mocking...actually interested!