Hi Gina, I'm Cheryl. And I'm a chicaholic too. Four years ago a friend offered to give me a dozen chickens for free. So I decided to have a small shed built for them, $700, and the enclosure with gate $150. But the chickens were free, remember? When we finally brought them home, I was absolutely hooked. I love my chickens. We were so successful at raising our chickens that pretty soon our small 16'x16' enclosure and 8'x8' henhouse was deemed too small. So we built a larger enclosure, 75'x 110'($450) and had ANOTHER shed built 10'x12' ($900) this time to accomodate all our new arrivals. Now we have a huge area for our chickens to live in (roughly 3x the size of our own home) but our flock unfortunately has decreased due to predators that inhabit the area. And all the while did we enjoy the advantages of fresh chicken dinners on Sunday? Oh no! We named each of our chickens, and as anyone knows, you can't eat an animal who has a name. We do get lots of fresh eggs, which we usually wind up giving away to family and friends because we can't eat them all. So why do we keep doing it? We're both hooked. Chickens are fun. They're interesting to watch. Besides, all our kids are grown and gone from home and we both still work full time, so what else do we have to do with all that disposable income but blow it on a bunch of spoiled birds? My name is Cheryl and I'm a chickaholic.

I used kitchen shears and a heavy (actually a bread knife) and meat pounder. the first one just the shears HARD, the second just laid the knife along the sides of the back bone and whacked the stew out of it! "LIKE BUTTER" The breast bone was easy. It really was the best way I have ever done turkey, and the kids took big helpings home, so guess it was a hit! Thanks Maid aka Red

I did turkey breasts and thighs one year. Only way to have a turkey and a half. :) They were great. Even when it's a gorgeous whole bird, we carve in the kitchen, so there's none of that presentation like in the movies. I haven't done a bird over stuffing, but I often roast a splayed chicken right on top of vegetables. It's glorious. The main thing is to get any large fat deposits out (great big lumps). It helps that yours is a farm raised bird. Some fat is good and necessary for keeping the meat moist and making the "inny" texture, but too much just makes for nasty slime. Most stuffing recipes call for some kind of fat and other liquid. I'd leave that out for your method, and try to keep all the stuffing under the bird. I hope you'll report back about how it goes.

There is heat loss but not much. The Weber has a thermometer on top and while I realize the very top of the inside, when the lid is closed, is the hottest point and is decidedly not where the cooking food is located, I think it goes up to something like 600F. Which was why I said earlier that food in a gas grill when closed is roasting/baking as much as being grilled from below. With mine, the hood needs to be closed to produce enough heat to cook because the gas elements below do not get as hot as a charcoal fire does. WIth my charcoal Weber, with the lid off and just a moderate charcoal load, the direct heat from below is mucho hot. So much so, I need to use a cooking glove or long handled tools to move or remover the food. Not so with the gas grill.