Ameraucana

I currently have 4 Ameraucanas along with a bunch of other girls. They're my 2nd favorite dual purpose birds. I never get tired of watching them with their exquisite coloring and subtle variations. They are not pets, they're for eggs and eventually the table but I've become so fond them I'll probably keep them forever, they're just that lovely. Ours lay pale pink eggs and lovely pale turquoise eggs. Very good brooders as well.

overall great chicken and great eggs, but you never know what the sex of it is going to be.

I've had EE's for years but this is my first actual ameraucana, Eglantine! She's curious and hilarious to watch honestly! I love it.
They are kinda fluffy too, but mine always is clean. She also stays with the flock and is fine with confinement.

She's very skittish though, and wary. Not a pet bird in my experience unless you really handle them. Mine also kinda runs weird, and so does my friend's. This may contribute to how the other 2 ameraucanas I bought we killed by predators. Eglantine is also slightly aggressive to the newer chickens when they come near her.

We love our Ameraucana Hens. We have 5 that are mixed in with 4 other breeds for a total of a 50 hen flock. These ladies are so sweet and demure. They are gentle to handle, very curious and ours are great foragers. They all have different but gorgeous feathers. We can't wait to see our first egg. This one's name is Silver, she has the sweetest grey beard! Very light weight birds and ours don't struggle with you when they are held!

This is such a fantastic breed. I have found them to be smart, and willing to interact with me. They even learned to cackle in such a way, as to almost simulate language! I would call to my alpha hen, by name, "Taji, Taji, where are you?". That hen would reply to me, "cackle, cackle, buck-buck-buck.", translation, "Here I am, sitting under the grapefruit tree.". LOL!

However, they can get somewhat aggressive with other chickens, occasionally. But, it was this trait, that enabled my Ameruacana to become the alpha hen. And, her majesty, was an excellent leader. She kept the hens in line, stopped any squabbles, did not tolerate, defiance. A quick thrashing would take care of anyone, disrupting the peace.

I also, observed tenderness and acceptance from my Ameruacanas. When I brought a rescued, little game hen into the flock, Taji's sister, Inky, accepted her, when the rest of the flock ingnored and even tormented her with constant pecking. One evening, as I was going to close the coop door, I observed the little game hen, with her head hanging low. Inky stood next to her on the perch. Suddenly, Inky stretched her wing out and placed it over the little game hen, as if she was a chick! They were best friends, from that night on.

This breed has impressed me so much, that I am currently hatching another generation of Ameruacanas. Not only are they beautiful to look at, they are intelligent, strong, and friendly birds.

I think I will always have Ameruacanas in my flock. They truly are, a beautiful and regal breed.

Great Chickens and easily kept~~

these have always been my dream bird and now I have them I'm getting addicted to ameraucana and silkies! love my birds!!!

With this breed it starts and ends with the beautiful blue (not green) eggs. Only the Araucana seems to be its equal in their beautiful blue eggs. Together with the Marans eggs they and amazing color to our market eggs packs. We have been breeding and selling them for over 4 Years and they are a customer favorite!

I love my Ameraucanas. They are beautiful petite birds that are very smart. They lay normally every other day half the year and every day the other half.
Sometimes they are too smart. My girls will always find a way out of the pasture into the back yard to let me know if they feel supper is late.
They aren't fans of being touched but are calm and won't claw and scratch to get away.
Mine are very healthy birds and it seems never get sick.
I have only had one go broody and boy was she a mean brooder. Couldn't go near her nest with hissing and pecking. So, I gave in and let her have some eggs. Nope, she decided to start eating them. She would leave to eat a couple times a day which is normal for the first couple of weeks. But then if she came back to find someone else laying in her nest she through a fit and ate an egg or two. Then once she finally had a couple that made it to the last week and she was brooding 24/7 I thought ok all is well. Nope, she decided she was over it.
The roosters are pretty bland looking to me but are gentle and calm. They are constant talkers though.
The black roosters are beautiful with feathers flashing purples and blues. It is very hard to get one with no leakage (red flakes somewhere on a feather or two).
I love that you can breed to a certain shade of blue egg you want and that you can mix these birds with other breeds and get a rainbow of greens and blues in your egg basket.
They are truly a fun breed. Be very careful though, it is hard to find true Americana's with a pure blood line.
Ask for pictures of the chicks and compare to breed standards. Chicks are usually easier to spot as fake.

Americaunas are friendly and very nosy so they are just a hoot to have in your flock!

Great birds. The friendliest cockerels I've ever had. Love to be hugged. Mine have orange eyes!

I love them so much that that is all I raise now. I have Black, White, Splash, and Lavender/Self Blue. They are always friendly and lay gorgeous blue eggs.

We have 3 blue Ameraucanas from an established bloodline. Great personality, always following us around. Very active foragers and will run down flies, butterflies and about anything that moves. They can outrun any chicken in our flock. They adapted quickly to handling and seem very gentle by nature. The rest of our flock is mostly heavy breeds that don't hesitate to peck the Ameraucanas when they get the chance (if they can catch them!). That could be because the little blue girls are masters at stealing food out from under the others. Good layers of medium-large light blue eggs. We typically get 5-6 per week. 2 of the 3 went broody during their first summer. They fiercely protect the nest, so I expect they would make good mothers. We were not ready for a raised brood, so we separated them from the nest boxes and they came out of it in a few days. They are a little higher maintenance if you want to keep their muffs clean. They dive into the food with gusto and look like 1 year old kid after a spaghetti dinner. We will wipe them down after a juicy melon, oatmeal or corn-on-the-cob. They also get wet muffs after drinking from an open container. The other day it was 9 degrees and one had little icicles hanging from the muff. I understand they can be prone to mites in the muff area, but so far we have not had any problems. I can't imagine not having Ameraucanas in our flock, we love them!

In the beginning, my Ameraucanas were fearful, skittish chicks. Much has improved on their tendencies since childhood.
I watched my Ameraucana lay the first egg in a nine hen flock of different breeds. Many blue eggs to come!
My second Ameraucana is pretty skittish, but can be social when she feels like it. She's not half as curious as the first, but shows promising production.

I currently have self-blue or what,others call lavender Ameraucanas. I think overall this line (lavenders)need more work in the males tail feather plumage overall but you can find some nice ones if you raise enough to select from and over the years it has vastly improved. I raised a run of the mill variety of Ameraucanas in the late 70s in FFA, took a 34 year break for an Air Force career and now back to them. A lot has been accomplished with them during my break. I find them to be just a bit on the skittish side when young compared to some Barred Rocks they were raised with. I find that flightishness to be slowly disappearing as they age. A good breed for me.

Personally, this is my favorite breed.
I have a mixed flock and have to say, the Americauna takes the cake for me. I don't like a bird that is very dependent on me, I used to love my barred rocks for that reason but then it became annoying. I like an independent bird. The different colored varieties make it so much fun to "collect them all." I currently have a blue wheaten americauna rooster, 2 red hens, a blue, black, and 2 splash americauna hens. They are generally a friendly breed with other flock members but stick closer to the top of the pecking order in my home. The bearded ladies are just the best, their little fuzz ball babies with the chipmunk cheeks.. just love it. Mine are excellent foragers and do well with avoiding predators. The reason I say that is because my barred rock was too friendly with the wrong creatures, my americauna's don't take the risk and I like that.