Typically, when I raise broiler chickens, they all end up basically the same size. Most in the 4 to 4.5 pound range at 7-8 weeks. Occasionally a runt at 3 pounds. Sometimes an aggressive feeder (the 'alpha' chicken, if I may) at slightly over 5 pounds.
Last summer I had some big birds at 7 weeks when I took them to the processor. A lot of them were 5 pounds. The smaller ones were 4.5 pounds. And then there was this one that I didn't really realize how big he was until he came home from the processor, packed in ice, and I took him out of the cooler.
This was a giant chicken like I'd never seen, never mind raised. He was so massive that DH asked if it might be a turkey accidentally stuck in our cooler.
Nope, not a turkey. Too small for that. But still, a ginormous chicken. He (usually the roosters are larger than the hens, so I assume he was alpha rooster) dwarfed the rest of the batch.
That's him on the left in the picture. On the right, a chicken that was normal sized, weighing in at about 4.5 pounds on my kitchen scale. The big guy spun the dial around that scale, which goes to 6 pounds, and I had to get out the larger scale we usually use for weighing batches of sausage or venison burger. He weighed a whopping 7.5 pounds!
When I prep them for the freezer, I cut up any chickens 5 pounds and over, leaving the smaller ones as the roasting chickens . This guy I just couldn't bear to cut up. He was the King Kong, the Godzilla, the Goliath of chickens. He needed to be preserved in all his massive glory.
Since he wasn't going to fit into the gallon sized bags I have (both Ziploc and vacuum seal), and I was out of anything larger, DD2 ran to the store for some 2 gallon ziploc bags that I used to use when I'd raise turkeys. When she got back with the big bags, we slipped him into one, marked it "Monster Chicken 7.5#" and the date, and into the freezer he went, where he would be the main entree in a future meal when we had more than three mouths to feed.
Monster Chicken ended up being the guest of honor at our (downsized, since both DS1 and DS2 were out of state visiting their in-laws,) family Christmas dinner.
He was delicious; he roasted up so tender and juicy I don't think I've ever eaten a better chicken. And, despite there being six adults and a two year old chowing down that meal, there was still enough meat left over for a chicken pot pie a few days later and a package of chopped cooked chicken to go in the freezer for a meal sometime in January.
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