Cooking the Chickens

I used this recipe for the chickens, but even though I went on the low end of the suggested baking times, I think it was still too long.  The meat was really tough, maybe even a hair dry.  I can't imagine that 6-8 month old chickens would have tough meat, but maybe I'm wrong?

First I made the brine, then I filled plastic bags with it.  I use potatoes to push in on the corners of the bags to make sure the brine completely submerged the chicken.  I let it soak overnight inside my refrigerator.  The next morning I emptied the brine and then let the chickens 'dry out' all day long inside the fridge.

Next I baked the chickens for 15 minutes at about 450F, then reduced the temperature and baked them for 30 minutes:

Then I made roasted garlic potatoes:

Then I tried to eat everything.  The chicken would not 'fall off' the bones as I'd envisioned so I had to ditch the fork and knife and go at it caveman style.  I ended up eating the whole dinner with my fingers and a lot of teeth gnawing.  The taste was good-ish, but I'm excited to experiment with this a little more with some pheasants someday.