Araucana chic's

[vschlaff]

I'm new to this site, and I'm looking for Araucana's. This will be my first coop, and we only want a few chickens. I won't be showing them, but my daughter would love it if
the temperment of the bird allowed her to handle them some what. we will be building our coop late fall or early spring next year.
Any help with where I could purchase a few birds would be great.
We live in Dexter, Michigan.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

My advice is to join the Araucana Club. Just Google it and Fritz will give you all the info you need to join.

Most all of mine are easy to handle but I do it a good bit plus giving them their favorite treats. The boys are usually more stand offish but that is not unusual. The girls can be pretty good pets. Though they aren't as easy to handle as my bantam Cochins.

Araucanas can be a hard breed to raise and probably will be frustrating to a youngster. You have to set about a hundred eggs to get one really nice bird to show. I breed tufted to tufted quite often but do get a lot of lethals with that. Although I must say I get chicks dieing in the shells even from non tufted birds so I take my chances.
I really love the unusual look of the breed, their varied colors (because I don't breed to APA standard of colors only), their beauty and majestic carriage and such personalities I get from some of them! My Ara boys are always the first to fly to my shoulder when I am raising them and are quite the little fellas until about 5 months old when they decide hens are more fun than "mom".

Araucanas can be hard to find but again, Fritz should be able to help. Decide if you want bantams or standards. I have never been into many bantams so I only have standard Araucanas but there are a few breeders on BYC here that have bantams.
Enjoy the blue or green eggs you get from your birds but don't be surprised if they don't lay in the winter. Mine have never been good winter layers.

 

[houndit]

Wilds of Pa has lots of them.

 

[Illia]

I think the most prominent breeders are Skyblueegg and Willow Hill Araucana farm. One is based in WA and the other somewhere in the south I believe.

Just remember, they're not cheap and they are quite rare. What hatcheries sell are not Araucanas.