Three things I learned today about "stewing" hens.

[Morrigan]

This morning, we butchered a 1.5 year old EE/Orpington mix, who had become egg-bound and didn't respond to treatment. Butchering revealed, she was indeed egg-bound, so I was glad to have spared her a slow decline. We went ahead and processed her -- I pulled aside the fat to render down for schmaltz and boiled the carcass for dog food. I learned three things today.

1) If you butcher quickly enough there really isn't rigor mortis. We were hurrying to finish up before breakfast so it was about 20 or 25 minutes from axe to pot. When I took out the meat out of the pot, it was completely tender. Not tough at all.

2) I decided to taste the meat, before it went into the dog food. I was surprised by how good it was. Even being boiled with no seasoning, it was tender and tasty. More so than the 16 week old cockerels I've processed. I've read 1+ year old hens were "stewing fowl" and had a picture of stringy, tasteless meat, and thus have always converted older birds to dog food. My dogs are not going to like this, but next time, I am making chicken and dumplings out of an older hen.

3) There is a lot of fat on a hen in the prime of her life. 1.25 pounds without even trying to get it all.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Experience is the best teacher. I've learned a lot butchering pullets and hens, laying or not, molting hens, and even a broody one once.

 

[Morrigan]

Schmaltz done -- Over 1 1/2 cups of golden goodness.

 

[wild chick]

@Ridgerunner - I'd love to hear what you learned about the different hens - about to butcher a few - one is not laying, one is molting? Do I expect something different?

 

[Ridgerunner]

They are all going to have a certain amount of fat in them, you may be surprised how much. It can vary a lot by hen but the ones that are actively laying will probably have a bit more. A lot of the fat will be in the pelvic region, that's called a fat pad, but there can be more spread around. Sometimes there is so much fat in that area you wonder how an egg can get through.

Another difference is in the ova, the small yolks that have not grown to size yet. An actively laying hen will have ova of different size, from about ready to make an egg all the way down to really small. The one molting probably will not have anything more than a bunch of tiny ova clustered in her left ovary.

A further difference the laying hen's internal egg making factory will be up and running. The oviduct and shell gland will be soft and very easy to spot. Depending on how you butcher her you will likely find her shell gland and parts of that egg making factory before you find her intestines when you take the vent off. You are likely to find an egg in that shell gland. I rinse those off, put then in the fridge, and eat those. In a hen not laying that egg making factory dries up, is hardly noticeable.

How much her oviduct has dried up and the size of the ova may depend on how long she has been molting, but that is why I don't believe you get immediate results in starting them to lay extending lights. It takes them time to grow those ova to yolk size and get the egg making factory in working order.

 

[aart]

My dogs are not going to like this, but next time, I am making chicken and dumplings out of an older hen.

Poor pups...but, yeah, they are delicious!

one is molting?

It can be a bear to get the pin feathers out if plucking...back of a butter knife works pretty good to scrape them off.

I've found much the same as RR when slaughtering hens.
Biggest diff is either you get a lot of fat or an egg.
Had one old bird that hadn't laid in months, belly was full of fat and so was her back.

 

[wild chick]

@aart That's a LOT of fat! When we just do a couple of chickens I don't bother with the hot water & plucking, I just skin them.

 

[aart]

@aart That's a LOT of fat! When we just do a couple of chickens I don't bother with the hot water & plucking, I just skin them.

As much if a PITA scalding and plucking is, I find skinning more difficult.
I like the skin in stock....and those feet too(which do get skinned)!
This helps the plucking part big time:

 

[Morrigan]

Poor pups...but, yeah, they are delicious!


It can be a bear to get the pin feathers out if plucking...back of a butter knife works pretty good to scrape them off.

I've found much the same as RR when slaughtering hens.
Biggest diff is either you get a lot of fat or an egg.
Had one old bird that hadn't laid in months, belly was full of fat and so was her back.
View attachment 1551703

That is what my last hen looked like. I had no idea what little butterballs they were.

 

[oldrooster]

I think why all of us here ASSUME we have to let them rest is because most of the people on here will process many chickens at one time or they dispatch the bird when it is sick or hurt and it is not meal time, so rigor will set in before it's meal time.... I remember after being on here for a while that both my folks grew up and left the farm (grandparents one side dead and the other side were 99.9% retired from farming) but I remembered when I read a post like the OP that my parents told me they would get a chicken (or 2 or 3) for sunday dinner and butcher them and fry them up or cook them some other way immediately.......