How can I make the most of this stewing hen?
I'm from the company you got your hens from.

Water cooking is the traditional method, the size of this bird is representative of the breed, which is leghorn fowl.  This is the breed used both in commercial and backyard egg layers.

The stock made from the stewing hen is far more flavorful then any other chicken you will find anywhere.  The meat is also rich in flavor, however as the age of these hens is significantly older than that of a broiler, (8-10 weeks vs 90-130 weeks for a stewer), the meat is tougher.

Our inventory is very current, in fact none of our inventory is beyond 15-30 days at this time, and our distributors are also working with very current inventory.

The color of the skin returns immediately, even running a little tap water over it will bring the white/yellow color back.  The skin tends to be fairly lean, leaner than a meat chicken, so once frozen it becomes almost translucent.

Thank you for trying our product, and I hope your chicken soup was as delicious as we have come to know in our own kitchens over the past 70 years.