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Ameraucana

The Ameraucana was developed in the 70's by a few people who were trying to standardize the...

General Information

Breed Purpose
Dual Purpose
Comb
Pea
Broodiness
Average
Climate Tolerance
All Climates
Egg Productivity
Medium
Egg Size
Medium
Egg Color
Blue/Green
Breed Temperament
Friendly, Flighty, Easily handled, Calm, Bears confinement well, Quiet, Docile
Breed Colors/Varieties
Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten, Brown Red, Buff, Silver, Wheaten, and White. Colors being worked on include Lavender, Splash, Splash Wheaten, Mottled, Salmon, Red Pyle and Black Gold.
Breed Size
Large Fowl
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The Ameraucana is an American breed of chicken developed in the USA in the 1970s. It was derived from chickens brought from South America (Chile) that carried the blue egg gene and was bred to maintain the blue egg colour gene of that breed. There is also an Ameraucana bantam variety and both the LF and bantam variety were added to the APA Standard of Perfection (SOP) in 1984. Recognised varieties are: Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten, Brown Red, Buff, Silver, Wheaten, White.

The Ameraucana is one of the few chicken breeds to lay blue eggs, another being the Cream Legbar, which also have an Araucana influence. The Ameraucana breed shows many similarities to the Araucana breed, such as pea combs and of course the blue egg gene. The Araucana however has earmuffs and is rumpless, whereas the Ameraucana has a tail and is muffed and bearded. Their earlobes are small and round, wattles small or absent, earlobes, comb and wattles are all red. Their shanks are slate-blue, (tending to black in the Black variety). In Australia and UK both Ameraucana and Araucana breeds are viewed as varieties of the Araucana - tailed and rumpless.

Less rare than Araucanas, Ameraucana are still considered quite rare. They are often confused with Easter Eggers (EE's are often advertised and sold as Ameraucanas), which can lay blue AND green eggs.

See here: Differences Between EEs, Ameraucanas, and Araucanas

eggs.jpg
Ameraucana eggs

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Ameraucana chicks

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Ameraucana pullet

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Ameraucana rooster

For more info on Ameraucanas and their owners' and breeders' experiences, see our breed discussion here:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/975512/chicken-breed-focus-ameraucana/0_30

Latest reviews

The perfect mid chickens
Pros: Docile
Good for both eggs and meat
Love the cheek fluffs
Cons: Not large eggs
Not a lot of eggs (Still good for eggs though)
I love americaunas, and they are definitely a good breed to get for eggs and meat. Very sweet when trained.
Lots of colors and once more, we love the cheek fluffs.
Great review, love it! Good job.
Love my Ameraucanas
Pros: Beautiful, friendly, adorable, gorgeous eggs, funny, curious, nice size.
Cons: Can be towards the top of the pecking order

Often confused with Easter Eggers.

Feedstores sell EEs as Ameraucanas.
Ameraucanas have always been my favorite breed. I have raised several blue wheatens, and currently have white and lavender. Have had both male and female, never had one I didn’t adore.
Purchase Price
$10, $19.95.
Purchase Date
March 2020, February 2021.
A True Favorite!
Pros: So adorable, super personable when raised from hatch, beautiful to look at and wonderful blue eggs to mystify your non-chicken friends with. A very intelligent chicken compared to many others.
Cons: None
I found a beautiful Easter Egger and dove into the history of the Ameraucana after. It amazed me that they were so sought after that shops used phony names! What is the wonder of this breed? I saved my pennies and shipped a few purebreds across the country and I am smitten. Beautiful funny intelligent birds who have become family overnight!

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Comments

That picture was already there. I didn't post a pic of my birds. And to Hellbender....I only have so much room for birds. My birds are well taken care of. Since placing the bird, the flock is happier now that she isn't pecking and chasing them. They are quieter and hopefully their feathers will grow back.
 
Ameraucanas are sweet calm chickens that enjoy people. they produce enough eggs to merit keeping them especially because of their funny face feathers. Maybe it has been to cold or lack of light that she has not started giving you eggs.
 
I know that she is still young, and that the environment can affect her egg laying behavior. Once she lays eggs, I will update my post to reflect what she does. Yes, she does have an interesting face. We call her facial feathers "mutton chops". I will eventually post a picture of her. Thanks for your comment. :)
 
What you have are easter eggers. They look like Ameraucanas, but they are pretty much the mutts of the chicken world, mixed with various birds, whereas Ameraucanas are a pure breed with very specific parameters. Ameraucanas are different when it comes to personality and looks, thus, your review would probably be more helpful here: http://www.backyardchickens.com/products/easter-eggers. I hear easter eggers are lovely birds. Enjoy them!
 
I have 2 Ameraucana's and they are all white with cheek puffs and beards they lay beautiful robins egg blue eggs...I also have 4 Easter eggers...1 olive egger that lays green 1 EE that lays brown and 2 that lay pink eggs... My EE's are beautiful colorful birds and were sold to me as Ameraucana's as well...I love a colorful egg basket...that being said my real Ameraucana's are much calmer and cuddlier than my EE's as a whole .I wouldnt be without any of them
 
This is an update to my earlier post. My ameraucana has started laying beautiful blue eggs. We were so happy to find the large blue egg in her nest area. She kept running back and forth from the pen to us, so we checked her nest and there it was, blue as the sky! We are getting about three a week from her, which is wonderful.
 
You don not have purebred ameraucanas, you have hatchery stock mixes better known as Easter eggers.
 
I looked up the hatchery. It said "araucana/ameraucana also known as easter eggers!" I didn't see anywhere on there that sold true ameraucanas. Sorry!
 
So, my picture of Frango pecking the dirt is an Easter Egger? Not what I ordered. lol
 
I have 3 ameraucanas and they are about 4 months old and I love they're colors. They are black, brown and golden. What I need to know is do the ones with what I call fuzzy ears are roosters or hens. I have two of those and a non-fuzzied ears
 
Mine three year old ameraucana hens have not laid an egg in months!! They will lay a few eggs over a period of about a week and then stop laying for a long time.
 
I have five Ameraucanas along with four RIR's and two barred rocks. When I first got the girls, one Ameraucana recruited the others to fly out of the run and roost in the nearby spruce trees. After this little incident, I went to a friend and picked up some used gill nets to cover my run. The girls still have a nice spruce tree to roost in as I teepee'd the netting 8 feet up into the tree in the center of the run. We've decided to let them free range in the summer when they'll likely take to the trees again. I have one in particular that is very curious and always comes to me wanting me to pet her. :) She loves testing the gate, the door, the window, the wire; all in hopes of one day escaping to the yard...again.
 
Your birds are very pretty but they are not ameraucanas - they are Easter eggers...a very popular hybrid.
 

Item information

Category
Chicken Breeds
Added by
pips&peeps
Views
217,134
Watchers
62
Comments
343
Reviews
262
Last update
Rating
4.24 star(s) 270 ratings

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