To many male chickens, not enough being eaten, what to do!?

[Sussex19]

I have a problem...
Let me start of by saying, I am not a cook, it has always been that I do the butchering, and my brother or dad does the cooking.
But we have been busy lately, and because the chickens are kept in the freezer, it takes some time to thaw them, with the result we just aren't eating any.
And now I have two more batches that need processing, but the freezer is full.
I can't even feed them to our dogs, as at least one of them is allergic to chicken!
Throwing them away is our of the question, as it would be so wasteful, and I would feel so bad if we don't make good use of them.
I just don't know what to do
How long does chicken last in the freezer?

 

[Geena]

One thing you can do to save space is to remove the meat from the bones and cube it before freezing. That way it's already prepared for chicken soup, chicken salad, tacos etc. I like to pack it into freezer bags, stack and freeze them flat so that they are not too thick and will thaw out quickly for those days I'm short on time.

 

[Morrigan]

Do you own a pressure canner? I've found it very nice to have cans of chicken in the pantry all ready for soup, gumbo, casseroles.

 

[Nomadicus]

Do you own a pressure canner? I've found it very nice to have cans of chicken the pantry all ready for soup, gumbo, casseroles.

This is the best solution.

 

[Morrigan]

As for how long it lasts in the freezer, it depends a bit on how cold your freezer is, and whether it has stayed frozen the entire time. With a good freezer, and continuous freezing, I personally would be fine eating a chicken put in there 3 years ago.

 

[Nomadicus]

I have a problem...

How long does chicken last in the freezer?

If you have a vacuum sealer chicken will last much longer than if just wrapped or put in a regular bag before freezing. The makers of the sealers have charts for different products being vacuum sealed.

 

[FunClucks]

Well, you could try to sell them. Not as processed chicken, which has laws you may not want to get into, but just straight live chickens, which should not be prohibited anywhere. "Live full grown CX 8 weeks old, X lbs live weight and ready to process - I just don't have space in my freezer." On FB or Craigslist, I think folks would jump on that pretty quickly. You get your investment back, don't have to spend time and effort processing them, don't have to overload your freezer, and the CX are not wasted.

Either that or buy another freezer.

I only store a handful of roasters in my freezer - I've had good success parting and bagging the chicken flat in family size portions in Ziplock gallon size freezer bags (or similar). 1 bag = 1 meal. I make the breasts skinless and boneless (one bag), keep the bones in the thighs, legs, and wings (bag 2), and bag the carcass and innards for soup use/chicken feeding later (bag 3 - you can smash the carcass too, or cut it up, to make it smaller and put several of them in one bag). I pull out a bag 3 days before we plan to cook it and stick it in the fridge. We eat chicken 1-2x a week.

Good luck!

 

[FunClucks]

Do you own a pressure canner? I've found it very nice to have cans of chicken in the pantry all ready for soup, gumbo, casseroles.

I love boneless canned chicken! Makes the best chicken salad and tacos!

 

[Somewhere_In_The_Clouds]

If you were wanting give away/sell any I wish I'd known when you'd travelled out to Orange, I know some people who may have been interested in some

 

[Sussex19]

Thanks everyone!

As for how long it lasts in the freezer, it depends a bit on how cold your freezer is, and whether it has stayed frozen the entire time. With a good freezer, and continuous freezing, I personally would be fine eating a chicken put in there 3 years ago.

That is reassuring, anyway. I think our freezer is at least fairly good, and they have only been in there around 6 months at the most.

Do you own a pressure canner? I've found it very nice to have cans of chicken in the pantry all ready for soup, gumbo, casseroles.

I don't, so thats not possible unfortunately.

Well, you could try to sell them. Not as processed chicken, which has laws you may not want to get into, but just straight live chickens, which should not be prohibited anywhere. "Live full grown CX 8 weeks old, X lbs live weight and ready to process - I just don't have space in my freezer." On FB or Craigslist, I think folks would jump on that pretty quickly. You get your investment back, don't have to spend time and effort processing them, don't have to overload your freezer, and the CX are not wasted.

The problem here, (which I completely forgot to mention, sorry!) is that my flock is MD positive.
I guess I could say in the add, 'they are from a Mareks positive flock, so are carriers. Don't buy if you have your own chickens!' But it still don't seem a very good idea, and most likely everyone would be scared that they would get it as well.

I think the thing to do, is just try and pack them extra well, both to keep, and also so they thaw out quicker.
And maybe get another freezer, which is kind of in the pipeline anyway
Maybe I just need to learn to cook myself...?