Three things I learned today about "stewing" hens.

[aart]

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 ...

No assumption here, have experienced it first hand.
I find rigor sets in pretty darn quick...within 10 minutes after kill leg joints are stiff as hell when I gut after plucking. have also cooked a bird the day of and one day after, much tougher meat than if I let cleaned carcass sit for 2-3 days...that's on layer birds, not CX.
Also with butchering fresh turkeys, much easier to butcher into parts 4-5 days after kill than 2-3 days. Rigor is real.

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

...and do they really remember how tender or tough that bird might have been?

 

[cassie]

[QUOTE="

...and do they really remember how tender or tough that bird might have been?[/QUOTE]

I remember. When I was a little girl I lived with my aunt. When we had unexpected company for dinner, I can remember her going out to the chicken house and coming back with a freshly killed chicken that she cooked immediately. My grandmother would do the same thing. The chickens weren't tough. I never understood why. Still don't.

 

[aart]

I never understood why. Still don't.

Wonder if it has something to do with scalding for plucking?
I'm betting the 'grandmas' didn't do that?

 

[cassie]

Wonder if it has something to do with scalding for plucking?
I'm betting the 'grandmas' didn't do that?

I really don't remember whether my aunt scalded them or not. Come to think of it, my aunt used a hatchet so I would imagine she did scald them. Otherwise they are very hard to pluck. My grandmother didn't scald chickens though. She killed chickens by pithing them and then dry plucked them. In both cases the chickens ended up in the pot or the skillet very shortly after they were killed, so that may have made the difference. My aunt and my grandmother could get the feathers off a chicken in just a very few minutes. Much faster than I ever could.