Chicken competition, autumn 2023: "Autumn Clucks and Colours"– the results!

This was my most recent competition.

It ended on Saturday, October 14th, 2023.

Please keep an eye out in my weekly Chicken Keeping Digest newsletter for my next competition in winter 2023, with a very special prize celebrating your most special chicken!

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The theme of the chicken competition in autumn 2023 celebrated the beauty and bounty of our backyard flocks.

"Autumn Clucks & Colours" was a competition designed to showcase our feathered friends in the most creative, autumnal ways.

It was entered by new chicken keepers and experts, those with two or three hens in their backyard and others with several dozen on a smallholding.

The autumn breeze ruffled chickens' feathers as they participated in this exciting celebration of fall and fowl!

The prizes...

Thumbnail Gail Damerow what's killing my chickens book review

Have you seen my review of Gail Damerow's amazing book "What's Killing My Chickens"?

It teaches us to look for sights and sounds which can help us work out exactly which predator we may have in our own area – and what to do about it.

If you've not yet seen it yet, take a few minutes to read my review now – because that's the prize I gave away to the five winners of my competition!

The autumn chicken competition winners...

A huge thank you to everyone who entered this competition. There were over 100 entries, and it was really very difficult choosing between them.

My top 5 winners were chosen by popular vote, and from those I chose one overall winner based on faithfulness to the theme of autumnal colours.

Overall winner: Mary Bowen with "Did you say something?!"

This photo had the most votes, and I also loved it!

I chose it as the overall winner because it had everything: autumn colours, including a lovely fall-coloured Wyandotte hen posing for the camera; beautiful orange marigolds, which are excellent for chicken health and deep orange coloured egg yolks; and of course an autumn pumpkin!

Mary says: "One of our black laced Wyandottes looked over just in time for this shot!".

Thanks for entering, Mary, and Congratulations – enjoy your prize!

Competition winner October 2023: Mary Bowen's Wyandotte hen amongst marigolds and a pumpkin.

Karen Adler with "Breezy and Presley eat pumpkins!"

Pumpkins and Silkies – what's not to like?!

The pumpkin is one of the most iconic parts of any autumn, and as a bonus they're an excellent treat for chickens!

Karen says: "Breezy showing Presley some “How to’s” of Pumpkin eating! 🎃" – maybe they'd also enjoy one of my special poultry pumpkin recipes too!

Congratulations, Karen, and say "hi" to Breezy and Presley for us!

A black Silkie chicken watches as her friend, a Barred Rock, tucks into a pumpkin treat.

Raeanna Brown with "Flo loves fall time!"

What a lovely photo of Flo, foraging among the still spreading zucchini flowers. The greens and oranges contrast so nicely with Flo's beautiful black plumage – and she is posing so nicely for the camera!

Congratulations, Raeanna, and thank you for sharing Flo with us!

A black hen walks amongst zucchini plants.

Deborrah Olson with: "Sunflower heaven!"

Sunflowers are ready for harvest in the autumn, and they're excellent for providing hours of entertainment as the chickens pick their way through the heads, looking for those nutritious seeds.

Deborrah says: "We spent Thanksgiving weekend with our grown kids and their families. One of our sons sent us home with twenty or so sunflower heads for my chickens to enjoy".

Congratulations, Deborrah – how lucky are your chickens to have such a great source of healthy, nourishing sunflower seeds!

A group of hens tuck into sunflower heads on a sunny day on the farm.

Allison Tannery, with "Gladys".

Well, Gladys is certainly a character!

Catching photos of chickens is not easy, and capturing such a wonderful close-up showing so clearly a hen with attitude is quite the achievement.

So when Allison entered her autumn-coloured hen, she was a cinch as one of our winners!

Allison says: "Gladys, a blue egg layer and one of my first six chix, turning into fall colors in her first autumn".

Congratulations, Allison – not just on winning one of the prizes, but on raising such a beautiful chicken!

The face of a blue egg laying hen whose plumage is turning golden brown.

Once again, a huge "Congratulations" to our worthy winners, and a big "thank you" to everyone who entered, voted, encouraged friends and family to take a look, or just sat with a cup of tea and spent some quality time enjoying all the photos!

I will be holding another competition in December, with a very special first prize.

What is it? Let's just say you'll want to make your favourite chicken as pretty as can be...

Don't forget: my competitions are always fun and always well subscribed, with chicken-themed prizes.

But they're only open to those loyal supporters who have signed up to my free, weekly Chicken Digest.

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