Costco, 4.99 already plucked, cooked and ready to eat... 
Curious as i don't eat my laying hens, but why wouldn't someone if its only like 20 or less just skin them out?
Skinning is fine, unless you want broilers and like to cook them whole (like the Costco rotisserie). The skin and fat really add to flavor and cooking. But yeah, a lot of times I just skin and be done with it.
Laying hens are only good for stew pot chickens. For meat chickens, you can't beat Cornish cross. They grow huge and fat in just a matter of weeks (well, a few months). The only way to go if you want the most bang for your buck. Then you can feed them organic or however you like and not worry about some massive farm and all the disease and \ or antibiotics and other nastiness...