McMurray Hatchery Blog

Hatchery News, Updates and Information on Raising Chickens, Ducks, Geese, Turkeys and Other Poultry

The Pros and Cons of Keeping a Rooster With Gail Damerow

Whether or not to keep a rooster in the flock can be a challenging decision for first-time chicken owners. Continuing our interview series with Gail Damerow, poultry expert and best-selling author, we ask her to discuss the pros and cons of keeping a rooster. What is...

How to Brood Guinea Keets With Gail Damerow

Most poultry keepers know how to raise chicks in a brooder. But brooding guinea keets is a little different from brooding chicks. Continuing our interview series with Gail Damerow, poultry expert and best-selling author, we ask her to explain how to brood guinea...

Coffee With The Chicken Ladies Breed Spotlight: Houdans

The quirky and beautiful Houdan is the kind of bird that the Chicken Ladies love. From their exuberant crest to their striking mottled feathers, you don’t have to be Cruella DeVil to appreciate how gorgeous these black and white chickens are. And their personalities?...

Are Autosexing Chickens and Sex Link Chickens the Same? Gail Damerow Explains

The terms "autosex chickens" and "sex link chickens" are often used mistakenly used interchangeably. Continuing our interview series with Gail Damerow, poultry expert and best-selling author, we ask her to explain the difference between autosex chickens and sex link...

2025 APA Certified Breeds

As part of our ongoing commitment to Standard bred poultry and preserving Heritage breeds, we are excited to share that  we have expanded our number of APA Certified flocks for the third year in a row. This season, certification has been renewed for our Buff,...

Five Reasons I Love Keeping Ducks

My love of ducks started with my stomach. As a young girl, I vividly remember my dad, grandpa, and uncles coming home with colorful mallards hanging upside down in their hands. We’d fry up the hearts and livers in butter right away, and a few days later, we’d enjoy a...

When and Why Would You Need to Replace Your Poultry Flock

Raising poultry, whether a backyard flock or free-range birds on a homestead or farm, does come with the fact that the flock will need to be freshened at some point. Of course, when new hens are brought on is determined based on your needs. As a small family farm that...

Coffee with the Chicken Ladies Breed Spotlight: Cochins

Cochins are the OG fancy chicken. They originated in China and were further developed in the UK and US, gradually becoming the gorgeous, super fluffy, feather-footed beauties that we know and love today. They’re foundation breeds for so many chicken breeds and color...

Ringing in Our 107th Hatching Season

One of my favorite book series is coming out with a new title. It has been quite some time since I’ve read these books, so I get to re-read them now and catch back up. These days, I find that I’m re-reading more books than I’m reading new ones. I might know the...

Gail Damerow Discusses Winter Health Considerations for Chickens

Cold stress in winter can affect a flock’s health. Continuing our interview series with Gail Damerow, poultry expert and best-selling author, we query her regarding winter health considerations for chickens. What is cold stress? "Cold stress occurs when a chicken...

Baby Chick Videos

We have made a series of short videos that show many of the breeds of baby chicks that we offer on our website.  Each video is about 90 seconds long. The baby chicks are very cute to watch, but the real usefulness of these videos is that they can help you identify...

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2010 Chicken Photo Contest Winners

McMurray Hatchery's 2010 Chicken Photo Contest has now ended.  You can view the winning photos and read the stories behind them using the links below: Winner for the That's So Sweet category Winner for the Too Funny for Words category Winner for the Best Breed Photo...

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2010 Photo Contest Winner

The final results are in for our 2010 Best of Breed photo contest. Congratulations to our winner and our two runner-ups! We thank all of you who participated in this contest, and we look forward to having more poultry-related contests in the 2011. Do you have ideas,...

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2010 Photo Contest: Finalist Poll

Update: 12-2-2010 The breed photo finalist poll is now closed. To see the contest winner, visit the link below: Contest Winner - Best Breed Photo Original Poll Announcement We've tallied the responses to the semi-finalist poll for the Best Breed Photo category....

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Spinach Stuffing Recipe

This spinach stuffing recipe is an old family favorite that is easy to make and goes well with a fresh roasted turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.  Serves 8-10 people. 3 lbs. frozen spinach, thawed 1 large onion, chopped 4 cloves garlic, chopped 4 tbsp. butter 1 stalk...

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Order Now for 2011

You can now pre-order your baby chicks and other birds for 2011 delivery.  Some of our more popular breeds sell very quickly - order now to get the best selection. Yes - we do count our chicks before they hatch.

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2010 Photo Contest: Semi-Finalist Poll

Update: Monday, Nov. 15, 2010 The Best Breed Photo Semi-Finalist Poll is now closed.  The finalist poll will open later this week. Look for details here on our blog. Best Breed Photo The poll for the "Best Breed Photo" category of the Murray McMurray Chicken Photo...

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Duck Eggs are ‘Mmmm, Good’

A lot of folks turn up their noses at the idea of eating duck eggs. When I was young, I did too.  But if you've never tried them, you don't know what you're missing. We recently asked our Facebook fans what they thought of duck eggs. Over 100 people responded, and...

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2010 Photo Contest Winner

Too Funny for Words The final results are in for this category of the photo contest. The Winner Congratulations to Kristine Jahnke for winning first place in the contest with her photo of their family cat curled up next to a Rhode Island Red hen. As the first prize...

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Preparing your Laying Flock for Winter, Part 2

[This is the second part of a two part article.  If you missed part 1, you can read it at: Preparing your Laying Flock for Winter, Part 1.] Photo by Sheila Falconer Water Supply Water is important to chickens in cold weather just as it is in hot weather.  Be sure that...

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Shop Day-Old Baby Chicks

Day-old baby chicks, ducks, geese, turkeys, and other poultry now available for the 2025 season — always with FREE SHIPPING on all full orders of baby birds!