McMurray Hatchery Blog

First Place

Beth Kleinsasser won first place with the photo below of chickens on a Fall morning. As first place winner, Beth has won a $100 gift certificate.  The chickens in the photo are Black Stars, Red Stars, and a Rhode Island Red.

Photo by Beth Kleinsasser

Second Place

Emily Green won second place with this photo of an  India Blue Peacock and received as a prize a $50 gift certificate. The photo was taken with a Nikon D200, 210mm lens, f9.0 at 1/40th sec, ISO 400, shot in open shade.

Photo by Emily Green

Emily sent us this description:

Peter was an India Blue Peacock I had been given by a friend when he was about a year old.  I kept him on our property for approximately 3 years before he started to become a nuisance to the neighbors (mating call at 3am and messing on their porch and in their garage) and we had to find him a new home.  I still miss him dearly!

Peafowl are extremely inquisitive.  We have 34 acres of property, but they always wander in the opposite direction – towards the neighbors!  They love to sit on the porch and peer in through the windows to see what you are doing.  Many people believe they can’t fly. They can!  But only for short distances.  They would perch high up in the pine trees at night, and we would frequently hear them running around on the roof.  Peter became ill one time and after taking him to the vet, we had to tube feed him for several weeks and finally nursed him back to full health.

I no longer keep peafowl, due to the problems with neighbors.  I do have 3 Pekin ducks, and 28 chickens, both standard and bantams of different breeds.

Third Place

Ken Hill won third place with his photo of a Turkey. His prize is a $25 gift certificate.

Photo by Ken Hill

All the turkeys had been getting on top of a pen, so Ken just had to wait until one flew down to capture the photo.

Other Photo Contests

To see information about our other poultry-related photo contests, visit the link below:

2011 Photo Contests

First and Second Place

Michael McLaughlin won first and second place. His first place photo is of a Buff Brahma hen. Michael received a $100 gift certificate as a first place prize.

First place photo by Michael McLaughlin

His second place photo is a Silver Laced Wyandotte hen.  Michael received a $50 gift certificate for second place.

Second place photo by Michael McLaughlin

Michael describes how he took the photos:

Last fall my friend and neighbor purchased a dozen chicks to raise for the eggs. We helped her build a coop in her backyard, and in return we are happy to receive a dozen turquoise, brown and beige eggs each week.

The chickens often wander free around our rural neighborhood, and as an amateur photographer I like to keep an eye out for when they make their way into interesting settings. One day I found the hens descending one at a time down a small slope with dew-sparkled branches in the background. As the Buff Brahma carefully stepped down the hill I captured her using my trusty Nikon D90 at f5.6 and shutter speed of 1/100 of a second.

Not long after that I found them clustered around a bird feeder snacking on spilled seed. I liked the way the Silver Wyandotte looked against the Silver Beech tree and took this shot – also at f5.6, but given the brighter light used a faster shutter speed of 1/400 of a second.

Third Place

Lynda Alerding won third place with this photo of a Silver Laced Wyandotte hen and received as a prize a $25 gift certificate.  The hen in the photo is one that Lynda ordered from the Murray McMurray catalog in 2010.

Third place photo by Lynda Alerding

Lynda tells of how she started raising poultry and tells the story behind the hen in the photo:

We started raising chickens in July 2010, our first order being from your hatchery. I had always wanted a small farm since I was a little girl. Since we only have 2/3 of an acre, chickens were “doable.”  I researched for a year before taking the plunge. We just love our flock.  Chickens are such fascinating creatures.

The chicken in the photo is “Lucky Chicken,” and at the time was only about 4 months old or so. About 6 weeks before this photo of her was taken, a hawk visited the chicken yard.  The juvenile hawk had become trapped in the chicken pen, unable to clear the fence.  We actually had to cover the hawk with a blanket to calm it down.  Eventually it cleared the fence and left.

When all of the chickens came out of hiding, I noticed that the girl in the picture was limping.  I picked her up to see what was wrong and found a puncture hole under each wing, where the hawk’s talons had dug in. I’m guessing the young hawk had tried to carry our little pullet away, but had dropped her.

We made a make shift chicken hospital out of an extra large dog crate and placed  it in our garage.  We flushed our little patient’s injuries with an iodine solution and force fed her antibiotics for a couple of days.  She seemed to be fading, but I kept up with the wound care and brought in one of our smaller pullets who resided at the bottom of the pecking order to keep her company.  Once her little friend came to stay, our injured girl seemed to regain her will to survive and made a miraculous recovery. We named her “Lucky Chicken” because she was indeed that.

Other Photo Contests

To see information and announcements about our other poultry-related photo contests, visit the link below:

2011 Photo Contests

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.

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.

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.

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.

First Place

Jennifer May Bryant won first place with this photo of her Royal Palm Tom Turkey. As first place winner, Jennifer has won a $100 gift certificate.

Photo by Jennifer Briant

The turkey in the  photo is about 2 years old and is one that Jennifer purchased from Murray McMurray Hatchery as part of a Barnyard Special. Jennifer said:

We raise these for pets, and our sons have shown them in 4-H Club. We were very pleased with this breed because they have great personalities and are some of the prettiest turkeys to look at. They also are good layers, they breed naturally and they can hatch their own eggs. These are also very gentle birds, and they have always been good with the children and other animals.

We purchased a 24 acre property over 7 years ago, and we were so excited to finally have a place to raise poultry, that we had our chickens ordered from McMurray Hatchery before we even had a house. We did however have a chicken coop. We purchased an old travel trailer and converted into a large free- range chicken coop. After looking through the catalog for weeks we ordered somewhere around 50 chicks for our first order.

[The turkey in the photo] won Best in Show at the 4-H Youth Fair, and he was in the newspaper when they ran the story about the fair.

They always draw quite a crowd at the shows. We do give them a bath before shows which is a lot of fun. A bathing suit is mandatory because you just end up totally soaked! In general these are sweet and friendly birds.

The females enjoy riding on our carts when we are cleaning pens or feeding. They just jump right up there and when you start moving they ride along.

Once, one of the young female Royal Palm Turkeys (they fly short distances when they are young) was roosting up on top of the free range coop. As I was going into the coop to collect eggs she flew down and landed right on my head. At first I wondered if an eagle was trying to carry me off, but thankfully it was just a Royal Palm turkey hen that was apparently very excited to see me and her breakfast (needless to say, I did not need a second cup of coffee that day).

They really seem to enjoy people and have been a lot more intelligent than I had expected.

Second Place

Pepper McCarty won second place with this photo of a Rio Grande Turkey and received as a prize a $50 gift certificate.

Photo by Pepper McCarty

The McCarty’s have raised this turkey for 5-6 years, and there’s an interesting story behind him:

We actually “found” him.  Quite a story.  My husband is a landscape contractor in Dallas, TX, and he showed up on one of the properties he maintains.  (High dollar, estate-type residence).  Not the neighborhood you’d be raising poultry in.  And not close enough to the “wild” to have wandered in.  (I know he has a story to tell, but he’s not talking!)  Long story short, the homeowner said he had been there several days, hanging out on the outdoor furniture.  My husband and his crew caught him and relocated him back to our yard, where he hangs with the ladies.

Third Place

Richard Wilberforce won third place with his photo of a male Gambel Quail. His prize is a $25 gift certificate.

Photo by Richard Wilberforce

Richard sent us this comment about the photo and his experience raising game birds:

The quail is approximately two years old.  I raised him from an egg.  I retired from managing one of the largest game bird farms in North America and can’t get raising them out of my blood. It’s only a hobby now and between game birds and poultry I raise about two hundred a year.  I raise Afghanistan Pheasants, Bobwhites, Scaled Quail, Gambels, and ten breeds of poultry.

Other Photo Contests

To see information and announcements about our other poultry-related photo contests, visit the link below:

2011 Photo Contests

First Place

The first place winner is Maria Beason. She won a $100 Murray McMurray Gift Certificate for her photo of “The Chicken Mansion.”

Photo by Maria Beason

To see photos of the inside of Maria’s chicken coop, along with more information about the coop, visit the link below:

Chicken Coop Photos and Description from Maria Beason

Second Place

The second place winner is Cindy Benkert, with her photo of this lovely “Egg Yolk Yellow” chicken coop designed and built by her husband Dale. She won a $50 Murray McMurray Gift Certificate.

Photo by Cindy Benkert

To read more about this chicken coop and photos showing the inside of the coop, visit the link below:

Chicken Coop Photos and Description from Cindy Benkert

Third Place

The third place winner is Jennifer Gallus, for her photo of this elegant, round-top chicken coop designed and built by her husband, who is a carpenter, with the help of several other family members.  She won a $25 Murray McMurray Gift Certificate.

Photo by Jennifer Gallus

To learn more about the coop, visit the link below:

Chicken Coop Photo and Description from Jennifer Gallus

Other Photo Contests

To see information and announcements about our other poultry-related photo contests, visit the link below:

2011 Photo Contests

The Chicken Mansion - Photo by Maria Beason

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Maria Beason for winning first place in the Poultry Housing Photo Contest, with her photo of “The Chicken Mansion.” She won a $100 Murray McMurray Hatchery gift certificate.

Size and Description of the Chicken Coop

Maria’s husband, who is also a homebuilder, designed and built this impressive chicken coop. It has two floors. The bottom floor is nearly 400 square feet and is partitioned into a number or separate pens and chicken runs. The Beasons keep a number of different breeds of chickens, include bantams, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpingtons, Red Stars, Black Australorps, White Rocks, and Cornish X Rocks, each within a separate pen in the large chicken house. All of Maria’s chickens were ordered from Murray McMurray Hatchery.

The Upper Floor

The upper floor contains brooders, hatching equipment, and a sink.

Winter Use

The Chicken Mansion is well insulated, and with a small electric heater, Maria can keep the temperature inside the coop at or above 50° F throughout the winter, which helps the hens to lay well during winter.

Automatic Waterers

Inside the coop, Maria uses automatic water bowls.  These together with feeders provide enough water and food for the chickens to go 3-4 days between refills.

Other Photos of The Coop

Click any of the photos in the gallery below to see a larger view.

Other Winners in the Coop Contest

To see the other winners in the coop contest, visit the link below

Poultry Coop Photo Contest – Winner Announcement

Photo by Cindy Benkert

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Cindy Benkert for winning second place in the McMurray Hatchery Poultry Coop Photo Contest.  She won second place and a $50 Murray McMurray gift certificate. Here is Cindy’s description of the coop:

This chicken coop was built and designed by my wonderful husband Dale.  This past winter, I was reading through poultry magazines and always loved seeing the beautiful chicken coops in all shapes and sizes.  Our 13 year old son Jordan is also a big chicken lover and shows chickens in 4-H.

This spring I convinced my husband it would be a great project for he and Jordan to build us a new chicken coop! Using pictures of coops from magazines as inspiration of things we liked, Dale planned out and designed the coop.  Jordan helped with the construction, and I helped with the painting. When picking out the paint color, as soon as I saw the color “Egg Yolk Yellow” I knew that was the one!

One side of the coop has a large door that lifts upwards for easy cleaning of the coop.  It also has a side entrance door for easy access to the food and water.  The roof and top of the attached nest box area are shingled. The many windows allow nice air flow through the coop.

We have 5 laying hens and 1 bantam rooster in the coop but it could easily hold a few more.  We let them out for a few hours each evening to roam about the yard for grass and bugs. When I go to close them in for the night I just peek thru the window and count them all lined up on the perch to be certain they are all in.

Chicken Coop Size

The dimensions of the coop are as follows:

The house itself is 8 ft long by 4 ft wide and has 4 ft high walls, but the roof peek is 6 ft. It is 2 feet off the ground.

The attached nest boxes are 16″ high by 1 foot wide and 8 feet long for a total of 6 nest boxes.  The frame of the house is made of 2 x 2′s.  The outside run is 4 feet high, 16 feet long and 8 feet wide.

I have attached a few additional photos to better illustrate the features. Our family loves are chicken coop and we thank you all so much!

Cindy, Dale, and Jordan Benkert

 More Photos

Click any of the photos below to see a larger view.

Other Winners in the Coop Contest

To see the other winners in the coop contest, visit the link below

Poultry Coop Photo Contest – Winner Announcement

Photo by Jennifer Gallus

Congratulations!

Congratulations to Jennifer Gallus for winning third place in the McMurray Hatchery Poultry Coop Photo Contest.  Jennifer won a $25 Murray McMurray Hatchery gift certificate.

Here is Jennifer’s description of the coop:

Our coop was handmade by my husband in the Spring of 2010 after years of looking for an old style, round-top chicken coop (we have one that we fixed up, but we wanted another one).

After not finding what we wanted, my husband who’s a carpenter, decided to make one from scratch. He designed it on paper and then got started. He hand made the trusses, which took the longest. The side windows have stacked glass block in them. The front windows were made by my husband’s cousin, and the cupola on top was made by a family friend.

It is a 12′ x 10′ coop with a 16′ x 10′ run out the back. The inside is divided into two areas, one for egg layers and one area for show birds – both have runs out the back.

We have about 50 chickens in it right now. What we like best is taking pride in the original build and the old-style look of it. The only thing we would change is that the nesting box lid is too heavy… we made it with too thick of wood, then you get the shingles on top of that and that makes it even heavier.

The barn and our Polish chickens were featured in a local farm publication. I think one of the interesting features is the interior design with old pictures, a clock, hanging corn, and we framed the ribbons we received at the county fair for our eggs and hung it in the barn – that way the egg layers can enjoy their fair winnings!!

Other Winners in the Coop Contest

To see the other winners in the coop contest, visit the link below

Poultry Coop Photo Contest – Winner Announcement

Poultry Open Class Contest

This contest is for photos of all types of poultry that we carry in our 2011 catalog or on our website. This includes chickens, ducks, guineas, geese, partridge, peafowl, pheasants, quail, swans, turkeys, and several other types of fowl. Each photo may include a single bird or more than one bird. Ideas include chickens or other poultry in a natural setting, chickens with adults, chicken or other poultry with children, and poultry together with other livestock.

For the most current information on this and other contests, visit the link below:

2011 Photo Contests