When is to old to Fry?

[ILuvsChicks]

How old of a chicken is to old to fry?
Them old birds do get kind of tough. I'm guessing to fry one you would need a young one that hasn't started laying yet.

Don't guess there is any way to tell the age of a chicken? Anyone 'band' their chicken to keep track of who's who?

I've got way to many birds now for our needs. My wife is giving away about six dozen eggs a week. Which would be ok, but the feed bill needs to come down. I've got some newly hatched chicks running around too. I guess they will be the ones in the skillet if we want Fried chicken. We don't fry often. But it's nice every now and then.

I once had a boss that had just started growing chickens commercially. He had three houses and would get 75,000 day old hen chicks. In six weeks they were ready for the market. Course he used all the growth hormones and such. For some reason if he got a load of roosters they were kept seven weeks. Said the biggest problem he had was them dying of a heart attack due to the hormones.

 

[Ameraucanas]

Apparentally free range chickens are never too old to eat.

 

[ILuvsChicks]

Apparentally free range chickens are never too old to eat.

Yes, but the older ones need to be boiled in some way. Or maybe broiled if done right. I think you can Barbecue them if you boil them first for a while. That might also work for frying too. We haven't tried that yet. I think you might lose some taste if boiled first. But I'm wondering how old can a chicken be and not need to be boiled before frying?

 

[JawaChicken]

When I get the older birds who seems tough, We do a salt water brine. Fully covered, for 12-24 hrs. Helps to tenderize and loosen muscle fibers a bit. Pat dry and you should be able to fry it.

 

[ILuvsChicks]

When I get the older birds who seems tough, We do a salt water brine. Fully covered, for 12-24 hrs. Helps to tenderize and loosen muscle fibers a bit. Pat dry and you should be able to fry it.

I'll give that a try. Got plenty to experiment on.

 

[wyoDreamer]

In my honest opinion, boiling makes chicken tough unless you boil for a really long time. Simmer works better, put in a crock pot and slow cooked all day makes a nice meal out of old stewing hens. The key to older birds is Low and Slow. low temps for a long time.
Also, if you are butchering your own chickens, make sure to let them rest until rigor mortis passes to get the most tenderness out of them that you can.