About
The Ameraucana is an American breed of domestic chicken. It was developed in the United States in the 1970s, and derives from Araucana chickens brought from Chile. It was bred to retain the blue-egg gene but eliminate the lethal alleles of the parent breed. There are both standard-sized and bantam versions.
The Ameraucana is one of the few chicken breeds to lay blue eggs. It shows many similarities to the Araucana, including the pea comb and the blue egg gene. It is tailed, muffed and bearded, whereas the Araucana in the United States has ear tufts and is rumpless. The earlobes are small and round, the wattles small or absent; earlobes, comb and wattles are all red. The shanks are slate-blue, tending to black in the black plumage variant.
Nine color variants are recognized in the American Standard of Perfection: black, blue, blue wheaten, brown red, buff, silver, wheaten, white, and blue.
Ameraucana hens are on the lighter side of the average chicken and weigh in around 5.5 lbs. Ameraucana roosters are around 6.5 lbs. Ameraucana’s are good layers and lay 180-200 eggs per years. Their eggs are medium sized and blue in colour, sometimes green. They are friendly but ocassionally go broody. They live in average of 7-8 years. They are heat hardly and cold tolerant, making them a great addition to any type of flock.
