We have really enjoyed seeing the amazing variety of photos in this contest.

First Place

Lisa Beth Steele won first place with her photo showing a pastel array of duck, Americauna, Cuckoo Marans, Australorp, and Buff eggs. As first place winner, Lisa wins a $100 gift certificate.

Chicken Eggs

Photo by Lisa Beth Steele

Lisa tells a little of her background with raising chickens:

I have been raising chickens for 3 years now, although my grandparents were chicken farmers in the 40’s and 50’s and we had chickens growing up as a kid for awhile, so it’s always been in my blood.  We moved to a farm in Virginia a few years ago where we could keep our horse, and it was a perfect place to raise some chickens also.   We started with 6 chickens and now have 24 plus 6 ducks.  We have Buff Orpingtons, Rhode Island Reds, Americaunas, Cuckoo Marans, Black Copper Marans, Cochins, Australorps, Salmon Favarolles and Blue Andalusians – a wide array of egg colors! The ducks we have are Pekin and Mallard.  We also have a horse, a German Shepherd and a cat….

We raise our chickens and ducks purely for their eggs.  We also have a vegetable garden and an herb garden and just love being a bit more self-sufficient.

I have never tried hatching any eggs, but with the gift certificate I am going to buy the Chick’n Hutch and try putting some fertile eggs under one of our broody hens next spring. I’ll use the Chick’n Hutch as a nursery for momma hen and the chicks once the eggs hatch.

Second Place

Lisa Murano won second place with this photo of an arrangement of chocolate candy alongside the chocolate colored eggs from her Marans hens. Her prize is a $50 gift certificate.

Marans Chicken Eggs

Photo by Lisa Murano

Lisa gave us the following description:

I’ve been raising chickens since 2009. I originally started with guineas for tick control but decided they needed some chicken friends, so we got some Silkies, Marans and D’uccles. I have 3 different types (or colors) of marans.

The idea for the picture came about since I often get asked “what color are the eggs?” Every color chart I saw seemed to be slightly different, so I decided to take a picture of the eggs with an item everyone would be familiar with, and everyone knows exactly what color Hershey’s chocolate is! These eggs are from 1 and 2 year old hens.

Third Place

Steve Taysom won third place with his photo of eggs from a variety of hens: Americanas, Barred Rock, Black Sex Link, Cuckoo Marans, Black Copper Marans, Leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, and Golden Sexlink. His prize is a $25 gift certificate.

Chicken eggs

Photo by Steve Taysom

Here are Steve’s comments:

I started raising chickens with my father 6 years ago. We have a couple of hundred and many different breeds. My favorites are the Black Copper Marans.

The vegetables in the picture came from our garden. We have 20 acres with sheep, horses, dog and cats. Thank you having the contests, it is great seeing pictures from around the country.