[benkt]

Yep, I do it that way, pluck and gut cold.
I've never really noticed much of a difference in difficulty between warm and cold plucking, but it fits in better to my day at the moment to do it this way round. I do briefly dunk them in very hot water though - which definitely does help.
Killing first thing in the morning when its still dark and the birds have an empty crop is best for them and me. However, I then usually have to go to work or entertain the toddlers so waiting till the evening to pluck them is about the only option. I usually do one bird a week at the moment to keep us in fresh home-reared chicken so the job just has to be fitted in around everything else. Maybe at the new place I'll have a bit more time to try doing it all at once again.

I've just sat down after doing two cockerels that are destined for the pot tomorrow so I might make a note whilst I'm cooking and turn my previous serving suggestion into a fully fledged recipe when I see what it is I actually do!

[Anke]

Re feeding kitchen scraps: You are not allowed under Defra rules to feed any kind of livestock on kitchen scraps or anything that has been processed in the kitchen. Even if you feed from time to time stale bread or similar, I wouldn't write about it on an open forum. I know it is ridculous, but better quietly done....

PS.: Our stale bread goes either to the dog (who loves it - the drier the better!, or is processed into bread crumbs for cheesy toppings... but the chickens love the green tomatoes that I have still three buckets of...

[daniellestocks]

I feel duty bound to use the meat so the 2 earmarked for culling soon will be boiled up and fed to the dogs. At least that way I feel less guilty.

Is there a thumbs up smiley? 
I do the same, dogs or cats have them

[kingnigel]

wish we had fed this one to the dogs  . if i had dropped it on the floor i am sure it would have bounced and hit the ceiling. i was expecting better after the previous one we have had.
never mind
kn

[Eve]

I'm not worried, Anke - after all, according to one of our politicians we can use the excuse that what we write online is "70% fiction"! 

[Anke]

Just make sure they polish it all off - the animal health officer might otherwise have some conclusions....

[Eve]

They're of the "finish what's on your plate" persuasion 

[Elissian]

We raise our cocks on growers and mixed corn, they free range in the field so have grass too. We kill them at about 7 months . They're orpingtons, faverolles brahmas and leghorns. We pluck them and then hang them in an old fridge for 5 days, then gut them. I tend to slow roast them in the bottom of the aga. The leghorns and anything that seems small i put in a stock pot so i don't hang those as the cats and dogs get the meat and i use the stock for soup. Perhaps the slow cooking helps with the flavour, i think it's worth hanging them