There are a lot of options with meat birds, this could be the beginning of an educational season for you & your family as you experiment with different breeds & different methods until you find what works best for you.
There are meat birds bred to be fast growing, they're really meaty & tasty, but they can be smelly and must be butchered within a small time frame or they'll die off on their own. There are others bred to grow big but at a slower rate, and can be butchered within a wider range of time. And standard breeds who take longer to grow out and may not get as big, but can be butchered only a few at a time each week.
If your freezer space is limited you can do what I do, butcher 6-8 at a time, let them rest in the refrigerator a few days, then simmer the meat off the bones and freeze it in packets. You can make your meat go further too if you use it in dishes that stretch it with rice, pasta or potatoes and vegetables. It's probably healthier than eating big chunks of pure meat at a sitting. Your family might be able to get by with only 1 or 2 chickens a week.
I've let myself get too sentimental about my layers, and my refrigerator's freezer is still stuffed with packets of cooked chicken. But someday I could see myself dispatching a non-producing layer and inviting her in for dinner. Some of these older gals are really heavy! Sometimes when I pick them up I find myself thinking ... SOUP! I hear that their flavor is incomparable, something most of us have rarely tasted since most of our chicken is butchered at a young age. And it doesn't seem like such a bad end for an old hen, she lays eggs for several years then nourishes the family for several days in a delectable soup. Better than dying from a prolapse, or internal laying, or at the paws of a raccoon.
