That is a nice image but there's not much you can do when the camera overexposes the whites that much. White birds are difficult and most cameras tend to overexpose the whites. When this happens some of the feather detail is lost and the camera just records a solid white area on the bird. To fix this you would have to look at the image in the field and realize it is overexposed. Then you have to manually reduce the exposure until the highlights are not blown out, then take another picture.
Seeing the shadow almost directly under the bird tells me that the sun is rather high in the sky (mid to late morning or early afternoon). This is starting to become harsh light and it's hard to get a really good images in those conditions. Next time shoot right after sunrise or right before sunset. This is called golden hour and the light is much nicer and because the sun is at a low angle it can light up the entire subject without creating a bunch of shadows. The cameras are also less likely to overexpose the whites in the softer light.
The tighter crop is an improvement over the image in post #1160 as my eye was drawn immediately to the coop door in that photo. In my opinion this background is still a little on the distracting side. It is almost in focus and there are contrasting colors and elements that draw my attention away from the bird.
You can create background blur with editing software but it typically doesn't look as good or "natural" as when you get it right in the field. For instance if the chicken is in focus (which it is) there is no way that this grass circled in red could be blurry because it is in the same focal plane as the chicken.
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So next time try and position yourself where the background is more uniform and less distracting. The closer you get to the bird, and the further away the background is, the blurrier it will become, which makes it less distracting and also makes your subject "pop" or standout in the image.
Hatched out that way!
