Chicken sale.. what did you do with your chicken?

Ok, so on Tuesday I hit the last day of the $0.69/# sale of draper valley whole chickens at QFC. We got 10 of them. We brought them home, cleaned the largest one, oiled it and put our favorite seasonings on it, and plopped it into the smoker, and let it cook all day (about 8 hours truth be told).  Then we started washing more of the chickens, and put them on cooling racks in my cookies sheets then put them in my oven to roast for about and hour to an hour and a half. We did 4 at a time in the oven, and boiled one on the stove. We weren't sure which way we preferred.. Well, I prefer, chicken breasts on the bone, cooked 3/4 of the way, then pulled off the bone and put in jars.. ok, so we pulled the meat from the bones (careful, they are HOT, and you want to do it quickly) and break the meat into small pieces.

So after we had enough to fill 19 pint jars, we counted out the lids, and covered them with boiling water and set them over LOW heat on the stove. My canner was ready to go (warm water with 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar (this keeps down mineral deposits in your canner and on jars!), so we started to load the CLEAN jars, we kind of pack them a little, but not tooo much, and give 1-inch head-space!!  Then added 1/4 teaspoon of canning salt. Then we add clean boiling water to the jars  to give 1-inch head-space, using a WOODEN (never ever use metal in your canning jars, it can etch the jars or crack them and make them weak!) CHOPSTICK, we remove an bubbles and usually add a little more water.

Next we place the lids and rings on, now there is a trick to this so as not to ruin the seal.
Gently place the lid on the jar, stick one or two fingers through the ring,

and hold the lid down,

then firmly screw on the band WITH OUT moving the lid,

 you want the band finger tight.

Then put the jar in the canner (make sure you have the rack in your pressure canner, so you don't break jars!! Direct contact with bottom of your canner WILL break jars!.  When full, put the lid on, and lock it down, then bring it to boil and let vent 5 to 10 minutes (depends on canner), then  put on weights, yes I use weighted canners.  When it gets to pressure, process1 hour 20 minutes.  Then turn off the heat and let it NATURALLY cool down. IF you force it to depressurize you will boil out your jars, or make them explode!  Don't move a canner under pressure!!