First try at chicken

For the wood- use some kind of fruit wood. Chicken will soak up smoke and can be over smoked quickly.
For the rub- its your personal preference, sky's the limit. Just for a simple start you can use Lowerys seasoned salt. Lately I have been really liking Plowboys Fin and Feathers. Then you can get into brining wet or dry.
For the temp- 300+ NO LESS.

I actually don't like my chicken smoked. I'll grill them skin side down till crispy then indirect at 350-375 till done.

LOL!! I was in the middle of my reply and when I was ready to hit the submit button I looked and saw that Garrett nailed it! Exactly my advice.

I'll add that maple is a fave of mine, but if you happen to go a jerk paste route(I like walkerswood) I don't suggest a fruit wood like that. Straight charcoal or clean burning oak tastes better if you don't happen to have pimento on hand. The idea is to come closer to a grill or campfire flavor. IMO of course!! You may like fruit wood and jerk.:mrgreen:

Pretty much what Garret said.....and go easy on the smoke.

People who don't like smoked chicken have probably over smoked it, or cooked at too low of a temp. You can still get some wonderful smoke flavor on chix parts while cooking in the 325-350 temp range. You just don't see the smoke billowing out of the cooker because the fire is burning cleaner at those temps.

One tip for leg quarters, because they are dark meat and have a good amount of fat and connective tissue, they don't mind being cooked into the 185+ area. This renders more of the fat out, and makes for more enjoyable eating IMO. I've even taken some into the 190s with excellent results.

On chicken I like Slap Ya Momma.

I did a chicken hind quarter the other day. Let it sit in a freezer bag with a crab boil brine for about 8 hours.
Cooked indirectly on a kettle for 2 hrs at ~250°-275°.
Turned out great.
I'm not concerned with crisping the skin since I peel it off and give it to the dogs.
I'll always try to brine chicken before cooking.

JMO, its dark meat so brine isnt necessary.

we eat a lot of thighs so we switch it up from Tony Chacheres, Lowerys, to other home made rubs, you really cant go wrong. last time it was Alton Browns Poultry shake. i peel the skin back and make sure the meat gets the rub, and i will sometimes add a splash of hot sauce or bbq sauce before i fold the skin back over. this is usally done 2+ hours ahead so that the seasonings have a chance to do what they do.

drink some beers while you get the smoker ready.

I usually like apple ( lite amount ) with my bird and on the UDS its cooked at 325, skin up, with no diffuser. ( we dont eat the skin either so i dont worry about crispyness.)

drink some more beers while the UDS is working it magic.

If i am going to sauce them i will pull the skin off when it gets close to 180 and put the sauce directly on the meat to finish it off. ( gets nice and tacky )

you got time...go ahead and have a few more beers.

pull, rest, eat. it goes great with beer.

IMO chicken thighs/legs is about the easiest thing out there.