Killing a chicken

We have a few growing cockerels that need killing and eating - as they grow they start fighting with the big cockerel which makes him all angry and start attacking us too. One of them walked over my foot while I was feeding them, so I grabbed it! Chicken for dinner tonight!

(I hope you like the hillbilly dungarees - farming chic!)
I always have trouble killing them by snapping their necks - they just streeeetch. I don't want them to suffer, so this time I pulled REALLY HARD - and his head came off. Oops but at least I was sure he was dead. I normally cut the head off before I start plucking, gutting etc, I hate the thought I might not have really killed them...

I pluck first before gutting. The pin feathers are really annoying, this is where a new feather is growing and they are much harder to pull out. The grey sheath protects the growing feather.
Some people suggest you put the chicken in warm water to loosen the feather, but I never found it to help and it just makes all the feather smelly and stick to your fingers.

I don't bother plucking the end of the wings of the tail, I just cut those bits off at the end.

Super sharp knife and awesome new chicken shears that are 100 times better than the old ones (possibly 10 times more expensive though!)

I gave the feet to the dog as I can never fancy eating them... maybe one day I should keep and at least use in the stock or something. But Poppy enjoys them, so not wasted.

I gut once I have plucked. Here it is ready for the oven (well the neck needs cutting off and keeping for the stock).

These guys are about 5 months old and they are an egg breed rather than meat, so much less meaty. But soooo much more tasty than supermarket chicken.
This one was a bit under a kg when ready for the oven. It probably takes me 30 mins to kill, pluck and gut, so buying in the supermarket is cheaper and easier, but where's the satisfaction in that?