Araucanas-- please compare to more normal breeds

[Oreo]

Hi! My first post on this site. We are considering getting a few hens for home egg production, and possibly sell or give away a few. When I was a toddler, my grandparents had an araucana and I remember my mom showing me the blue egg every time before she cooked it for me. Since then, I've grown up with out much contact with chickens (by that I mean, I haven't raised any or spent loads of time with anyone who did at their place where they did so). We have raised sheep here on our one-acre house lot for the past year without much trouble and want to start chickens this year. We live in the upcountry of South Carolina, on the sunny side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, at an elevation of about 900 feet. We hope to have between 5-10 hens at first, maybe grow if that goes ok. I would really like to have at least one more-or-less purebred araucana, mainly for sentimentality, and also for conversation piece while selling or giving away the eggs. What I want to know, is, are Araucanas suited to my climate (I suspect they are), and do they differ from your more common breeds in any ways that make them harder to raise? Should we start out with more common breeds and get into Araucanas and other more exotic breeds as we go along? Thanks for any help. Also, if anyone in my area has any, I'd like to know.
Jim

 

[airmom1c05]

I suggest you PM jmhappycowboy, a member of this forum. He's from Canton, Mississippi and I've seen his Araucanas up close a personal. He would definitely be able to answer your question.

 

[hcammack]

Welcome!
true rumpless arucanas are a very rare breed and your grandmother probably had Easter Eggers or mixed breed amerucana or arucanas that can lay pink, green, or blue eggs. The pure Amerucana is also fairly rare. You can get an EE or easter egger at any hatchery. these three breeds are all very hardy and no harder to raise then any other chicken.

Good Luck in the world of chickens.
Henry

 

[jmhappycowboy]

Welcome also and I agree with what Henry said the Araucana's are a very rare breed and are somewhat pricey to come by compared to the Easter Eggers or the Ameraucana's. I have had all 3 breeds and have Bantam Rumpless Araucana's now and they are all 3 great birds to have around, easy to raise and in my experience a fairly calm bird. The EE's and Ameraucana's more so than the Rumpless Araucana's in my opinion.

James

 

[Shaffer]

Oreo,
You need to go to the Araucana.net site there are many breeders I believe that may live near you. The rumpless are very good free rangers and hatch their own chicks usually. I have both real Araucanas and Ameraucanas and had easter-eggers several times over the past 40 years. Usually the easter-eggers come in the drab brown color and that dominates after awhile. Any of the breeds will give you blue eggs, sometimes green but if you get an easter-egger rooster to breed that carries the brown egg gene you will lose your color of the egg eventually since the hatcheries put all their culls in the easter-egger pens for the quick buck. Harry

 

[Oreo]

Thanks, y'all!