Used to be, the butcher's shelf in the supermarket would have plenty of whole chickens, fryers, broilers, and roasters. Must be some kinda plague killed them all off. Now a days all the market has are chicken thighs (second joint) drumsticks, breasts (skinless and boneless) and chicken fingers (breasts sliced thin). The whole bird seems to be extinct. Must be global warming...
Wonder why. There is less labor to prepare a whole chicken, than to prepare a whole chicken and then butcher it up into parts and wrap it. Is there customer demand for chicken parts over whole chickens? If so why? With a whole chicken all you have to do is pop it in the oven for 20 minutes to the pound and out it comes and looks festive and tastes good. No great culinary skills here. Serve it forth with a few side dishes and you have a party grade feast. I guess people just send out for pizza now rather than cooking.