Easter, I smoked a large regular chicken and a slightly larger hen side by side on my GOSM gas smoker. I did not brine as I was doing the Beer Butt method and figured they would be juicy enough. I bought the hen thinking it was slightly larger than the chicken and it would help feed the large number of folks I had over. I brought both birds to 180 degrees in the thigh meat, pulled them off, let them rest, and prepared to serve. The hen was so tough, my electric knife had a hard time getting through the breast. The chicken was wonderful. I pitched the hen. My brother in law said that hens are older and that makes a difference in the way they smoke or grill. Fortunately I also smoked a spiral precooked ham and that is a disappointment I will discuss in a different thread. Lesson here is, hens are not a good item for the smoker.