I use kill cones and then use a turkey fryer for heating the water for plucking. Anywhere from 145 to 160 works for us then into the drum plucker I can do upwards of 3 at a time and I have 3 cones so that works well. I have a 20 gallon bucket with ice and water in it they go in there to stay cold while I work on eviscerating them. I clean the tables and equipment and resterilize after each bird just on the off chance that something from the inside of the bird (intestines or other things get on it) then rinse outside and in and shrink bagged and into a chest freezer to cool down. Then into the standing freezer once they are all cooled down. I will age mine before I cook rather than after unless I am crock pot cooking them or cooking in stew or other wet means then I will just cut them up as soon as they aren't frozen and put them in. I do like to brine/marinate the birds a bit before cooking like the last 12 hours they are in the fridge I will make a solution with oil, ACV and a little salt plus spices and any other seasonings I like and water. The salt helps the bird to pull the flavoring into the meat rather than just the skin.
