Can Araucanas have tails and no tufts (or muffs)?

[redhen]

Just wondering..another thread of mine has me wondering what breed roo i really do have...

Heres 2 pics (i'll get the 3rd pic tomorrow..of the hen), Anyways, are these 2 birds pure Araucanas? As i was told they were..

 

[amazondoc]

Hey there --

I just posted this on your other thread, but I'll put it here too --

Neither ear tufts nor rumplessness is a recessive trait in araucanas, so a bird can't normally "carry" the genes without showing them. Now, they are a little bit more complicated than straight dominant traits -- for instance, tufts can be nearly invisible so a bird can *look* tuftless when it isn't -- but in general a bird that doesn't show tufts doesn't have the tufting gene, and a bird with a full tail doesn't have the rumpless gene.

Unfortunately, it *is* very hard to breed good araucanas that have both tufts and no tails. For instance, it's impossible to create a homozygous tufted bird, because the gene is lethal in double doses -- so the best you can do is breed two birds that each have one copy of the gene, which naturally means that some of the offspring won't get the tufts. Also, some breeders do include tailed birds in their breeding programs, because they think that continually breeding rumpless to rumpless eventually creates fertility problems.

Also, since you mention green eggs -- ideally, araucanas and ameraucanas should both lay BLUE eggs. Some do lay greenish eggs, but the more green they are the more likely it is that there are other breeds in there. Also, the more single the comb looks (rather than pea combed), the more likely there's blood from other breeds.

Folks who breed araucanas are always going to end up with non-ideal birds. Even forgetting the question of proper colors, there are going to be clean faced and/or tailed birds getting hatched. I have some of these that I've hatched myself, in fact (although none have tails as full or combs as large as your roo). I haven't sold any of mine yet, but when I do I'll be selling them as EEs. If you choose to sell yours as araucana, you should be very careful to specify that it's clean faced and tailed. Because there's so much confusion about breed names, it's important to be very clear here.

 

[wilds of pa]

The ancestors of the modern Araucana chicken were purportedly first bred by the Araucanians Indians of Chile -- hence the name "Araucana."

The Araucana as we know it today is a hybrid of two South American breeds: the Collonca (a naturally blue-egg laying, rumpless, clean-faced chicken) and the Quetros (a pinkish-brown egg layer that is tailed and has ear-tufts).

 

[hinkjc]

The first one does not look like it has araucana in it to me. I have never hatched an araucana with a single comb.

The second one is an araucana (just lacks the tufts). The colonca is a clean faced rumpless, which was crossed to a tufted tailed bird to create the American version Araucana that carried the traits of both birds. The only thing is all of the traits do not always match up on a single bird, so you can really get any combination.

 

[key west chick]

I have an Araucana hen that has a full tail, and no tufts. But she does have a pea comb and lays a beautiful blue egg. But she is 100% Araucana and I love her as much as the rumpless roo that I also have. I was told when I got my chicks, some would have tails. I think I got 5 out of 16 chicks with tails. I got mine from Nancy Utterback so I'm sure they're true.

 

[hinkjc]

Yup, sometimes they do hatch with tails. That is what makes the breed so challenging..and then the tufts too. But that bird in the first pic doesn't have the body type of an araucana either.

 

[Birch Run Farm]

I have a black, fully tailed and tufted araucana hen who lays quite blue eggs. I have an interesting 'mutant' son from her that was sired by an ameraucana.

Your silver rooster is not an araucana, his single comb and large wattles and earlobes show at minimum he is a cross breed with something else. If you are keeping him as a possible olive egger/EE sire I don't think he has the genetics for blue or green colored egg traits.

The white one is certainly an araucana, he looks nice to me, has a kind eye. His white has some yellowing but he at least has yellow skin as a white bird should.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I have one hen that was given to me that is a mix of some sort. She has a bit of feathering on her legs and could be a Brahma mix. She has a tail, no muffs, tufts or beard and is small in size but lays the prettiest blue eggs!

I bred her to a standard Cochin and got a wonderful Cochin roo. Huge feathered feet and nice bum.
Then I bred her to one of my Araucana roos and she has produced 11 of the best little Araucanas with feather legs! LOL A few have bilateral tufts, none have tails.

I love working with unknown genetics to figure out what something is supposed to be.

 

[rodriguezpoultry]

I see no Araucana in the first bird. The second bird looks to be an Araucana but just lacks the tufts.

 

[herechickchick]

I think the first bird is an EE.