Newbie with Chickens on WSM

I hope I"m posting to the right forum. This is about my experience smoking two chickens yesterday.

In June, my family bought me the WSM 18.5. I love to cook (and eat) but never experienced smoking but once a few years ago when I make a makeshift smoke box from foil and tried to smoke in my Weber gar grill.

I picked up a two pack of organic Coleman chickens at Costco. As you can see, they totaled over 12 pounds but one was a little smaller then the other -- I'd guess they were 5.5 and 6.5 lbs.


I removed the gizzards, rinsed out the cavity, dried the inside and outside. I trimmed off the excess fat around the neck opening and left it inside the cavity. I then trussed the chickens.


I then put my rub on the smaller one and kosher salt on the larger one. I use the rub from the Best Recipes cookbook -- I've never found a recipe in that book I didn't like.



I put them on the rack breast side down. I learned to do this from the Best Recipes' turkey recipe. I caused the juices to run down into the breast keeping it moist.

After an hour, this is how they looked.


Then, I turned them over until they were done, about two more hours.


I used hickory chunks. This was the 4th time using the WSM and I've had trouble maintaining the temp and avoiding spikes. This time, I did not have much problem maintaining about 225 on the lid thermometer. I definitely have to thank the posters on this site who suggested:

1. minion method,
2. using very hot water,
3. bringing the temp up slowly at the beginning rather than trying to bring it down -- after I poured the lit coals from the chimney starter and put the smoker together (including adding boiling water), I closed the three bottom vents and opened one about a third -- then I opened them up more and more about 2 or 3 times over the next half hour, until I got to 225 where it stayed pretty consistent throughout the cooking,
4. convincing me that the smoker -- especially the WSM -- has to get seasoned with use, and
5. it takes some practice to get used to building and maintaining the fire for your own smoker.

I smoked these on Saturday for company on Sunday when I would be smoking pork ribs. So I refrigerated the chickens and, on Sunday morning, cut them up and let them get to room temperature. They were moist and very so flavorful -- I even impressed my mother-in-law.