Araucana

Every year we get at least a few Araucanas. The eggs are lovely and every Araucana is unique and differently-colored. They don't lay as many eggs as other breeds such as Rhode Island Reds, Leghorns, and Plymouth Rock. However they make up for it with the unique coloring of their eggs.

I only have one Araucana at the moment, a one year old rooster. He is the perfect rooster. Very predator alert, tidbits constantly to his hens, helps them build their nests, and is just an all around gentleman. At no point has he ever shown any aggression to me or any other human. Every now and then he will get playful, like a puppy or kitten, and run around acting goofy. He is great entertainment! Some may consider flying ability a pro, but to me it is a con as he has flown over his boundaries a few times. I have seen him fly 5' off the ground for about 50', and it is nothing for him to fly on top of a 7' fence.

I would like to point out some of the other araucana reviews are NOT of true araucanas; they appear to be easter eggers or americaunas, Many hatcheries and backyard breeders like to term any colored-egg laying bird araucana or americauna. Please visit http://www.araucana.net/ to properly educate yourself on the breed standard.

I only have one aracana so this review isnt about the entire breed, but my Star is a awesome hen.

She is a 3 year old black muff-less aracana, that lays green eggs every day and is both heat and cold hardy, that has a beautiful beetle green shine to her feathers. The only problems I've encountered are that she is a bully, even though she is only kept with one other chicken when introduced to other birds, she is excessivly mean and has a rather sharp beak. So just be careful about introduction, and they can be awesome friendly birds~!

I will never stop breeding these birds. The breeding issues are so worth the trouble and I have had many successful hatches since I started to trim vent area in the spring. I also love that hens do go broody, hatch their own chicks and make great moms. My ladies give me a large amount of beautiful blue eggs.

I recently got some Araucana's and at first they were a little weird with out tails. Mine don't have ear tuffs. But I love how pretty they are. They are very active and wonderful range chickens.

very good for kids look very cool and have cool blue and green eggs

I've had this breed for over a decade. I love the eye-candy they provide when I sit in the yard. The ear-tufts are so unique, and rumplessness is cool even if other breeds produce this. I keep a flock of mixed tufted, clean-faced, rumpless, and tailed - I'm not picky about SOP. This mix makes less chance of that bad gene turning up. When a girl goes broody, she'll often set through two hatchings of whatever I set under her. And often I'll have 2 or 3 share setting a large clutch in the same nest. When I set the incubator, I usually do more eggs than chicks I expect - to make up for that gene.
My birds are reasonably friendly with me, but give a wide berth to strangers. They also free-range - so they have their forage 'n hunt almost everyday. Nice large to medium eggs from a "silky-sized" bird.

I had a small tufted black rumpless. She was a constant mess on her back end to the point it was really gross. She had to be bathed at least once a week, even in winter, because her rear end was constantly coated was poo that just ran down her backside. She couldn't lay (which was probably a good thing for her sake). She was sweet and calm but very delicate and had a great deal of heath issues. Her hips were bad so she walked funny and when a roo tried to mount her shed screach and try to get away and would limp badly afterwards. She dropped dead suddenly and with no obvious cause at 11 months old. Personally after my experiences with her I will never have another rumpless again. Granted her problems were probably worse than most but people should be aware of the possible health issues they can havr before getting one.

My Araucanas lay very well even in the cold months. They forage well and the hens are very friendly with people and other members of the flock. I have 3 Araucana Roosters and 2 of them are very aggressive. I am not sure if this is common but it has been for me. It is not a problem but they are not as friendly as the hens. My Araucanas lay much better than the Ameraucanas in the cold months. I highly recommend the Araucana!

Overall, an amazing breed!
We had to raise two Lavender Araucanas from chicks, unknown of their gender. One was a rooster and gave that to a breeder who was very happy to have such a rare breed. We entered our hen, Redfoo, into the Royal Show and she won Champion Araucana and 1st place! Definitely worth getting for us.
The eggs: Constant layers, 5-6 per week. Nice bluey green colour although slightly smaller than our White Leghorn's eggs.
Friendliness: Well, she doesn't come running up to me or anything, but is fine with me picking her up and cuddling her.

Our chook, Redfoo in the garden.

Redfoo and Ellie the White Leghorn.

Worth getting for experienced chicken owners, probably not good for a first time owner.
Radioactive Egg out

My Araucanas (I have two) are my absolute favorites of my flock (and I hate playing favorites but...) They grow fast, they were part of my younger batch and before I knew it they were passing up my barred rock and sexlink (part of the older crowd). When they were chicks I'd get them out to sit on the couch with me and they would crawl up into my hair and stay there passed out until I pulled them out and put them back in the brooder(never pooped on me! haha) and they're always the first ones to greet me in the morning and get a chest rub. I'm a beginner and have never had a problem. The biggest of the two got pretty sassy with me a few times but we worked everything out I love them and recommend them! If you want a chicken with character an Araucana is for you. Just look at those cheeks!

I went to my favorite farm store and bought a variety of Aracaunas. I did this because 3 years ago I bought 5 RIReds and couldn't tell the difference on who was who and who wasn't producing eggs. This year my other 5 girls are one white, one grey and 3 black with specks of reddish brown but with different patterns.
When they were a few weeks old I noticed how much they like to fly! My RIR can barely get off the ground so I never had to clip their wings.
Now that my new girls are older probably about 2 1/2 to 3 months they still love to fly and great escape artists. They also have become super friendly. I moved them out of my shed weeks ago and made a smaller pen in the big pen so they can get used to the older hens and vise versa. I can't wait to see how they do free range. Right now I will just let the big girls out and let the little ones in the big pen during the day.

I bought four araucana bantams a month and a half ago for $20 a piece, and I haven't regretted it for a moment! (I'm actually waiting for the person I got them from to get more chicks!) I ended up with two roosters (Rumple and Merlin), and two hens (Belle and Gwen) in the group, and the hens stayed with Rumple, and avoided the rest of the birds. Merlin would join them now and again, but he was a bit of a loner.
I ended up losing Rumple and Merlin (I think to cocci), and now, Belle follows Gwen around everywhere. They are truly inseparable.

When I pick Gwen and Belle up, they might try to get away a bit, but not nearly as much as my other birds, and they don't cry about it either. They also don't try to run when I come up to them, which I really appreciate.

Because araucanas don't come from hatcheries, they tend to be more susceptible to diseases, and are much harder to find (it took me six years to get mine), but at the same time, I get the feeling that the fact that they haven't been through hatcheries also means that they will probably go broody fairly frequently.

When I get birds, I look for strange qualities, like fluff instead of feathers for silkies, or tophats, that kind of thing, so araucanas were perfect for me. Not only do they have no tails, but they also lay blue eggs!


Oh, and I almost forgot, Rumple and Gwen were/are black araucanas, and they have the most amazing iridescence I've ever seen! Rumple's feathers shone with green and purple all over, and Gwen has a bit of the green/purple iridescence too!

I am just starting my Araucana adventure. I have hatched 7 sucessfully and current have four new birds from Edd at www.awesomearaucana.com. Edd was helpful answered all of my questions and was able to provide me insight from his 40 years of breeding. I am excited tosee where I go on this Araucana adventure.

Mine are unfazed by weather, as hardy as my Dominique's . They produce big blue eggs about 6 days a week. A little more stand offish than some breeds and not as weary free ranging but do fine. they love grass and will reward you with beautiful eggs.

Araucana are beautiful chickens i have a rooster and a hen and they seriously the best breed of chicken i have ever had they make very good pets for young children.

I have a Lavender Araucana, and since I am Australian my girl has tail feathers. I really really love this breed. Our girl, Loca, is named because she is "loco" (crazy). She is just the quirkiest animal I have ever owned. She is a fantastic layer, we get 5-6 eggs a week from her and when she is not covered in mud she is a very unique and interesting looking bird. Also what amazes me is how smart she is. We put straw in their run so they can forage through it and she will pick up the straw, put it in the water, dip it and then eat it, softening it so it is easier to eat. She is a smart girl. And of course those blue/green eggs are to die for. I can absolutely recommend this breed, they are amazing chickens. Everyone should own an Araucana.

I had three of these birds. Each one looked so different from the next (one a deep chestnut speckled black, one black, tan, and white, and one white), and each one was absolutely gorgeous! When we went to sell the girls, the new owner asked if they were show hens!
They are so sweet! My chickens were largely pets, so I gave them tons of attention, but still I think that they had to have some of their loving personality inherited. Two at least... I had one who was fine with being held, very kind, didn't seem to mind whatever we did to her, liked to fall asleep in people's arms, and cooed Her name was Clover. Then I had Lilac, who was the most personable hen I've met. She'd beg to be held and liked to be tickled and to lay like a baby on her back in your arms. She was precious, and my absolute favorite. The white hen, August, was a diva. It was a struggle to catch her, and she really didn't seem to enjoy human interaction that much. That being said, she certainly wasn't mean! Auggie was fine with being held, stayed calm, just ran away when you put her down... I got the feeling she didn't like people.
Each one of my girls had such a personality! Clover got the nickname Intrepid. She looked like she was in charge, mostly black and huge, and she WAS! She strutted around like she owned the joint and the other hens listened to her, no questions asked. And she was afraid of nothing! She loved to explore and once attacked a bird. Lilac was shy and sweet, like a little lamb. She was certainly a follower, and was a perfect darling. August was very different from her counterparts. She was wild, loud, a bit violent, and hard to control. I loved her, and she never pecked or tried to hurt me at all. The only "person" who could even sorta control her was Clover.
They were good layers, if thats not all you care about. 2 eggs a day was normal, they were large and pale green, and DELICIOUS! I was very happy with the eggs they produced.
On the con side, they wandered. I kept them in their run when I was away, but once I got home, they were released, and probably 5 times a day, I would make my brother come, and we would go searching. They'd run off again! It was already hard to find them, and once you did find them, Lilac was the only one that came easy. August was a field day to catch. All of our neighbors knew we had chickens a week after we let them free range, simply because they refused to stay in one place.
They were a bit erratic, and wonderfully so, but if you are looking for a calm hen, they aren't for you. That being said, they are a joy to have around, and I recommend them in every way!