o/t Food preparation / long post.

Been probly 45 years since I butchered a chicken and even back then I worked outside and never really new what went on in the house with mother and my sisters cutting, cleaning and washing and getting ready for freezer. So today I decided to butcher my 10 old laying hens as I only am getting about 2 or 3 eggs a day so I want to start some little chicks. These hens are 2 years old. So I get my 87 year old mother out here to guide me along. If I don't get anything else out of this project it was still worth it just to see the exitement and enthuziasm in Mother. She really took this project "under her wing" (you get it?) She insisted everything be done just right and perfect. Had one of my sisters and bil come to help so it really went quite fast. Any way I really do have a question in all this. I know they refer to old hens as stewing hens. Why is that? Mine were two years old does that mean they are stewing hens? Or are they still young enough to be friers? Why wouldn't you want to just fry these like a regular chicken? Is the meat tough and if so why can't you just fry them a little longer. Any body know of a good way to prepare a 2 year old hen? After we got them done and ready for freezer I got to say they sure look nice. I know this is off topic but some body help me out here.

If you didn't boil water on the (wood fired) cook stove in the kitchen and souse the chickens in the boiling water, feathers and all, so that they stunk up the whole neighborhood, I can't help you. I can still smell the stink of those hot feathers............

generally I would sit the hen down, maybe get her a drink of water, and just explain that she is not laying enough eggs to keep her around, so I think it is best if I just put her out of her misery. Oh wait, you mean after the butchering. Well, put it in the slow cooker for the day. Mom used to put them in the pressure cooker, then take it off the bone and can it. make a bunch of different cassoroles.

I butcher around 15 spent hens annually. I can't eat them fried at all. Low and long in the crockpot however gives a first rate product. Don't know if you can much, but I always stew a few into chicken broth & can or freeze, it's far better than the store bought stuff.

Stewing = tough old birds

If the meat is tough you can marinate it in sweet salt water for about 24 hours(in the fridge), then rinse good and cook like normal.
Kevin

wiki says Commercial fowls are culled at approx 2-3 years as production then starts to decline,however, free range have a life span of 12-15 years, so you may have been a little premature, you should have hung the axe in the fowl house first to see if the threat yielded results.
Plenty of hot water to stink the neighbours out then it's all gf course the gutting is best done by the sister and bil.

40 minutes in a pressure cooker. Let it cool, debone it and you have lots of chicken for a number of casserols, soups etc.

Gordo

Fryers are about 10 weeks old, so yours are way past that. I agree with the others about slow cooking them and using the meat in something.

Chicken noodle soup!

older animals tend to be less tender. that being said, it is theoretically possible to cook any meat to be tender. the key is, MOIST HEAT. that means water. frying is oil- even though you're dunking it in liquid, it is considered "dry cooking".

don't remember all the chemistry, but it boils down (get it) to collagen, a protein in meat, that gets softer (read more tender) when cooked in the presence of water.

usually meat birds are killed at less than 3 months of age, so yours are way past that. if you roasted, fried, etc with dry heat, they'd come out tough. cook them long enough with moist heat, and the meat will fall right off the bone.