Araucana/Americanas

[mystil]

I wonder if anyone can help?

We are interested in buying some more Large Fowl chickens (we are based in the UK).

What we ideally are looking for is something that looks like a Faverolle (tufted ears- fluffy neck but without feathered feet) and lays green/blue eggs. So the closest we would get so far is the Araucana.

However we were wondering if they produce a decent size egg? I.e the size of a Silver sussex egg.

We made the mistake of going for looks when we bought our Exchequer Leghorns as they look pretty but the eggs are smaller (approx. 10 grams lighter than the sussex)

Anyone have any other ideas?

(On a side note- In the UK I think Araucanas are easier to source and there is some talk that Americanas and Araucanas breeds are the same??)

Thanks
Liza

 

[mystil]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Mtn Laurel]

I can't help you locate birds and I don't know about the egg size but I can tell you that Araucana, Ameraucana's, and Americana's are three different and distinct birds. The Americana isn't a recognized breed. It's a hybrid that we refer to as an "Easter Egger" due to its colored eggs.

The link has an article that explains the difference between the three: http://apa-abayouthpoultryclub.org/Edu_Material/Easter Eggers vs.pdf

I hope that someone will be able to assist you with your other questions. Good Luck!

 

[Old Rando]

The Araucana of the UK were developed for ornamental purposes I believe. I would assume their egg production would not be extremely good or particularly large The Araucana (rumples and tufted) and the Ameraucana (tailed and bearded) of North American were also developed for exhibition and not for production either. Hatcheries in North America sell a production bird that does produce lots of large blue or green eggs. They were sold for decades as Araucanas and and some call them Ameraucanas but the term Easter Egger is preferred by many. For the criteria you want a UK Araucana could be bred with a production leghorn and give you a large blue egg producer with a large volume. per year.

 

[mystil]

What breed would you say is a production leghorn?

 

[enola]

Leghorn is the name of a breed.

This breed lays a LOT of eggs.

 

[conny63malies]

There is no such thing as a Americana, this breed doesn't exist. There are Easter Eggers, Ameraucanas and Araucana.