Cooking Older Chickens

[Davy Crockett]

I didn't realize how soon chickens become stringy and tough.

I guess I should have butchered them younger but didn't for various reasons.
Anyhow, these are tough old birds.

Any suggestions on what to make with them?

I had thought of putting them in the slow cooker, stripping the meat off and making soup, possibly chicken and dumplings.
Not sure if this would work.

Thank you

[Homesteader]

Pressure cooker or slow cooker

Older birds actualy make best soup. They have more flavor.

[Alder]

Best answer I've found is to pressure can them. Second best is to pressure cook them. Crockpot is third, but iffy. Whatever you do, make sure to let the dressed birds sit in the fridge for 24-48 hours for the meat to "relax". Unless you are cooking a freshly butchered bird literally minutes after you kill them, the wait period helps a lot.

I was just splitting up, culling and moving 13 week old "overstock" banty roosters this morning. I put them in the pen with the old layers who will go to chicken heaven later this fall. Figure that the roosters can't get into too much trouble living with hens 4x their size. And a few more weeks to put some meat on won't hurt. Was chuckling, thinking about stuffing a whole banty each into a quart jar. Something to gross the kids out with, anyway...;)

[Liberty]

How old is "too old"?

[Davy Crockett]

Thanks, everyone, for your input
These are approx 1 year old slow whites.
They were butchered a month or so ago and were frozen whole.

I did google and saw some slow cooker crockpot recipes for tough chicken.

[Summerthyme]

Oh YEAH. Pretty much anything beyond 5-6 months is not going to be cooked according to any of the usual modern American chicken recipes.

I usually make soup stock with the whole carcass (cut up into halves or quarters to fit more in to the kettle), with onions, celery and a carrot or two for flavor.

Once the meat is almost falling off the bones (usually overnight), I strain the broth, and then pick the meat.

Then you can use it for almost any recipe that calls for cooked chicken- pot pies, casseroles, etc. Or you can use some of the broth, make gravy and have chicken and gravy on biscuits or mashed potatoes.

A lot of ours gets cut up and put back into the soup (with lots of fresh vegetables- discard the "flavoring" veggies you used- you don't need more than a couple onions and the butt end of the celery bunch for flavor, and they get really mushy) and then canned for winter eating.

Summerthyme

[Meemur]

I usually make soup stock with the whole carcass (cut up into halves or quarters to fit more in to the kettle), with onions, celery and a carrot or two for flavor.

Me, too, plus I add up to 1/4 cup of a decent white wine (red if that's all I have), if I have any. The alcohol boils off, but it leaves a nice note for "adult" soups that are savored rather than gulped.

When it gets cooler and produce prices get high, I begin dinner with a bowl of homemade soup, rather than salad.

I also use tough chicken chopped up finely in stir fry dishes. Toss in a few nuts, and generally no one notices.

[Faroe]

Just butchered a year old banty roo this morning. We liked the little guy, but he was consistently mean to a new comer hen (the rescued Vivian, from another thread), and she is one our few good layers.

Maybe I actually dulled the knife when I gave it a quick preliminary sharpening, but I couldn't believe how hard he was to get apart. Even the skin was tough to cut. I actually had an easier time with the nearly full grown mucsovy drake I butchered next (re-sharpened knife, however).

[Alder]

Ha Ha! I've butchered old roosters that I couldn't pluck, no matter how long I held them in a scald. And then tried to skin them, and couldn't even cut the skin!

Roosters do get pretty nasty and tough after a year or so. I won't even wait on my cull banties past 16 weeks. The layer hens I want to axe later this fall are 3 year old big Buff Orps. Figure there should be some meat on them, but plan to cut them up, bones and all, and can them for chicken and dumplings/rice/noodles.

I'm getting Slow White chicks next week for a fall freezer top-off. Will have plenty of nice young tender birds in November for fryers and roasters without working too hard on the tough stuff.

[Summerthyme]

Alder- we haven't ever seen a bird that couldn't be plucked, but we have a group of Amish women who do the butchering "professionally", and they have a huge drum plucker. They haven't ever complained, and even the old roos are nice and clean when they're done.

But- we don't eat them! I put them in the freezer for dog food, or can them up for dog food if the freezer is full. I feed our dogs mostly raw meaty bones (I'm not fanatic about it, and do keep a high quality kibble on hand for the times when the meat supply is low) And cutting them up to fit into the kettle or jars can be ROUGH- I've used pruning shears a couple of times!

We have plenty of nice, tender fryers and roasters in the freezer. The old hens make wonderful soup stock, and the meat makes great dog food.

Summerthyme