How rare is an old hen (also called a stewing hen)? Search for one. Go ahead, you have the internet. Search for “old hens near me”, or “buy an old hen”. You might find a couple of places in the US that will send you one. Most links will tell you about the benefits of an old hen, or recipes, or nearby grocery stores, but few will tell you where to get an old hen. Old hens are defined as at least over 2 years old, but typically 3-4 years old, when their laying significantly decreases.
Let’s first talk about why you would even want an old hen. Old hen meat is tough and chewy. It’s almost inedible if you try to bake or fry it. Time makes meat tough. But time also gives meat more flavor. So the major benefit of an old hen is that it’s packed with flavor. Did you ever make stock from leftover store-bought chicken? You probably found it rather bland. Have you ever tried to duplicate your grandmother’s chicken and dumplings or chicken soup recipe, but couldn’t match the flavor? It’s because she used an old hen. Perhaps you’ve never tasted stock from an old hen, so you aren’t even aware of how much flavor comes from an old hen. Old hen stock is rich, with a delicious true chicken flavor.
Now let’s talk about why an old hen is so rare. At any given time, there are about 33 billion chickens in the world, or 4 chickens for every person. In the USA, there are about 9.2 billion chickens, or 28 chickens for every person. The great majority of chickens are raised by commercial farms for either meat or eggs. Meat chickens are processed between 7 and 8 weeks. Egg layers are replaced by 18 months old, and most are killed. They are either taken to landfills or rendered for oils or pet food.
You’ll never find an old hen in a major supermarket. A few (very few) old laying hens wind up in ethnic food markets, since their flavor is preferred by people who weren’t raised in the USA.
The remaining source of old hens is from backyard chicken owners. There are 13 million people raising chickens in the USA. Most of those 13 million only have a few chickens for eggs to feed their family, and very few process their own chickens. If they do process chickens, they only have a few old hens, and they keep them for their family. Why? Because they are so rare and delicious!
How many of those 13 million people actually sell processed old hens? There just aren’t good numbers, but my best educated guess is that there may be less than 75,000 old hens per year available for purchase in the USA. Per person, it’s a decimal with a lot of zeros after it!
Happy Wife Acres is one of those few backyard farms that sells old hen meat. But we only sell from the farm (near Dayton, Ohio). Old hens are most plentiful in the summer and fall. If you would like to reserve an old hen, you can fill out the Meat Order form at https://www.happywifeacres.com/chicken-meat-order-form/
By the way, here is how we make stock from an old hen: With an old hen, you can make about 1.5 gallons of rich delicious stock. Simmer the whole bird in a stock pot for a few hours. Add salt, and whatever else you like (seasoning, herbs, vegetables). Remove the chicken and pick off the meat to use later for casseroles and soup. Return the bones and skin to the stock pot and continue to simmer for 3 to 5 days, turning it off at night. Strain and either pressure can or freeze the stock, or keep it in the refrigerator to drink as a healthy afternoon beverage!