First things first, what is a stewing hen? Good question. Laying hens have a laying life of about two years before their production drops to the point where they are no longer a productive member of the flock. Aka, it’s much too expensive to feed them for the amount of eggs they’re laying. And so after two years of eating grass and bugs and driving around in the eggmobile, a Deep Roots Farm laying hen becomes a stewing hen. And on goes the ever-present cycle of life on the farm. Because stewing hens have a longer time on earth than their cousins, the broilers, their meat has a much different profile. First, they are much more lean since they’ve been chasing bugs for two years, and they have a much richer, golden fat from years of pasture. What this means is that roasting a laying hen like a normal broiler chicken will have disastrous results, but slow cooking a stewing hen and making soup will result in the best chicken soup you’ve ever had with the most beautiful and delicious golden broth you’ve ever seen.