cornish rocks are dying

I only have six. They are 6 1/2 wks. old. I just learned I should restrict their diet at night. But I thinks its too late. One has already died and another is now. The first one stopped walking/standing, and I seperated it from the others. It didn't make it. Now another one is just sitting, I have seperated it also. Should I kill them now(which I have never done), to stop the others from suffering like this.
Thanks for any answers,
Kathy

better harvest what you can.

Here's the plan (if you don't know it)
1. put a pot of water on the stove. You need it hot, not boiling. If you have a thermometer warm it to around 150. It will cool off as you process birds so you may need to do it more than once.
2. While waiting for water gather 2 buckets and a sharp knife.
3. Set your resolve. This is going to happen.
4. Use the restroom/change your clothes into things you won't mind getting bloody. If your hair is long, put it up. Put a kleenex in one pocket, a paper towel in the other.
5. Repeat your resolve. Either they can die and go to waste or you can kill them and cook them with rice. You know what you have to do.
6. Assuming you don't have a cone, put the bird on the ground (outside). Right handed? Put your left pointer finger on his comb, your left thumb under his beak and pull his head up. You will need a good hold here because when you start cutting he'll try to get away. Cut the featherless patch on the left of his head down to the middle of his neck. Now make the same cut on the right side. Make your cut deep enough that your hand is quickly covered in blood. Set the knife down and use both hands to hold the bird's wings or maybe grab his feet so he's upside-down. Hold him upside down in a bucket till he quits flopping.

The bird is dead. Take a breath. Get a kleenex if needed.

7. Now set him down for a second and go grab the water off the stove. Add some dish soap to the water. It should be warm enough you can put your hand in it...just barely. Immerse the bird, up and down, swish it around. Count to 50 then try to pull out some wing or pin feathers. If they come out easy go to work plucking.

(...5 minutes later...)All plucked?

8. Good. Pull the head off. That's right, pull. PULL! Next, cut off the feet. Splash some clean water over the bird now before you get inside of him. You should also wash your hands and move to a clean workspace (cookie sheet).
9. cut the tail off. That's the easiest.
10. Pull the skin by the breast dimple and make a small slice. There's a crop in there and you have to pull it loose. It's attached to the bird's right breast. Pull it loose, pull the trachea out and turn the bird around.
11. With the chicken still on it's back, turn it around so the rear is facing right. Put your left hand over the belly, pull the skin into the rib cage and make a slice just north of the vent. You'll use this slice to remove all the guts. The best I can say it is to slip your hand in the top and let your fingernails follow the keel toward the neck. Then slip your hand around the ..well..guts... to the left and the right.
12. Still with me? Then slip your hand to the bottom of the gut pile in the bird and you'll find (really, you will) a tube running north and south. Wrap this tube (the stomach) around your pointer finger and pull the whole pile of stuff out of the bird. You'll hear some slipping and glopping. DON'T SQUEEZE. Just pull and let your finger pull out that esophagus, crop and windpipe.
13. With all that out, flop it into your left hand. Use the knife in your right hand to cut sides and bottom around the vent. Toss the stuff in your left hand into the bucket. Don't worry about the liver or heart. This is your first bird.
14. Now look in the cavity and see what's happening in there. Did you get it all? Heart still there? Love of liver still in there? Rinse it out and see what you can see.
15. When you think everything is out put your fingernails against the keel again. Now run your fingernails down the ribcage wall toward the back on your right. You'll peel out the lung. Now do this on your left.
16. Rinse out the bird and put it in ice water (maybe with a dash of salt), wash your hands and go have a drink. You deserve it.

Don't worry, you'll do better next time.

Optional:
Can you make a cone out of a bleach bottle? How about a parking/soccer cone? If so, nail/screw that sucker to a tree and put the bird in it upside-down before cutting the throat. It's a whole lot easier.

That was a rush job so I probably missed a step or two. If you have time you should check this video:

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pretty good description an alternative (easier) way to clean the chicken is to take the skin off instead of plucking, thats what i do normally, and it eliminates the tedious plucking stage (i suck at it) and dont have the patience to practice.

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Thank you, I'm gonna print this! My mother in law is going show me how to ring their neck. And I plan to try the kill cone on the same day.
And thank you for #3 & #5!
Kathy

That video was great. He made it look easy. I hope I feel that way soon.

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There is a video on here somewhere that shows how to wax a chicken to get the feathers out easier. I plan to try it with the first chicken.

Good luck!! Stay strong! We're all rooting for you.