I think that is what I am going to have to do..... put it out of my mind and go through the motions. Hopefully learning alot along the way. As well as growing emotionally and coming to grips with the fact our food doesn't just appear on the grocery shelf. Animals are butchered everyday for consumption. I do feel that by processing at home, the chicken is provided a better life as well as an easier processing experience...hopefully, if I can perform correctly and decisively without hesitation. There isn't really any use in keeping more than 1 roo unless you are a breeder and are going to sell chicks. Had my roos been born in a hatchery they would have been put in a grinder within hours of birth. I have decided for sure after I have read several threads including this one, that processing my roos myself is what I am going to do. Thank You to everyone for the good advice and to the Original Poster who brought to light exactly the post I needed to read. What is the routine a beginner should use? For example do 1 at a time or have more than one cone and do 2 or 3 at a time? How long can the bird sit in the cone passed before it needs to be done and on ice? I was planning on just skinning mine, not defeathering and all that as we pretty much eat skinless chicken anyway. Would I be wasting much of the bird by skinning and harvesting the breast meat, thighs and legs? I don't want to be wasteful. I do want to harvest the edible organs for my dog, served cooked of course so she doesn't get a taste for raw chicken organs. I am also not going to allow her to witness the chicken processing. I also had to cull 2 chicks that had an internal problem and couldn't poop...that was the first time I ever killed anything.....It was very difficult. I am afraid processing the roos will be worse for me as they don't have anything "wrong" with them, they were just born male...doesn't seem fair. I am struggling a little with the fact I may keep 1 of the roos and it sucks to choose life for 1 and death for the rest. There I go thinking AGAIN!