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What are the major differences between Ameraucana and Araucana
chickens?
What are Easter Egg chickens?
Aren't Araucanas the "original" breed of colored-egg
chicken?
Are Ameraucanas just mongrels produced by crossing Araucanas
with other breeds of domestic chickens?
Who decided which attributes the Ameraucana breed would consist
of?
Which varieties are recognized by the American Bantam Association
and by the American Poultry Association?
Where can I get a list of Ameraucana breeders to try to obtain
hatching eggs and/or birds?
Are blue eggs, from Ameraucanas and Araucanas, lower in
cholesterol than white and brown eggs?
What are the major differences between Ameraucana and Araucana
chickens?
Both breeds lay eggs with shells colored various
shades of blue, have pea combs, and should have red earlobes. Beyond that few
similarities exist in specimens meeting the requirements of recognized
poultry standards. Perhaps 99 percent of chickens sold as Araucanas (or
Ameraucanas) by commercial hatcheries are actually mongrels (aka Easter Egg
chickens), meeting the requirements of neither breed.
According to the American Poultry Association
(APA), the Araucana breed must be rumpless (no tail) and have ear tufts. Ear
tufts are clumps of feathers growing from small tabs of skin usually found at
or near the region of the ear openings. This feature is unique in the U.S.
to the Araucana breed. This trait is nearly always lethal to unhatched chicks
when inherited from both parents. Tufted Araucanas, therefore, are always
genetically impure, i.e., they don't breed true and will always produce a
percentage of "clean-faced" offspring.
The Ameraucana breed, on the other hand, has a tail
and sports muffs and beard in the facial area. These characteristics are
true-breeding. Other requirements of both breeds may be found in the APA's
Standard of Perfection and in the American Bantam Association's (ABA) Bantam Standard.
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What are Easter Egg chickens?
The Ameraucana Breeders Club defines an Easter Egg
chicken or Easter Egger as any chicken that possesses the blue egg gene, but
doesn’t fully meet any breed descriptions as defined in the APA and/or ABA standards. Further, even if a bird meets an Ameraucana
standard breed description, but doesn’t meet a variety description or
breed true at least 50% of the time it is considered an Easter Egg chicken.
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Aren't Araucanas the
"original" breed of colored-egg chicken?
Although the APA Standard claims some Araucanas
came from South America, the ABA Standard is correct in stating that
Araucanas, as described in the our Standards, originated in the United
States.
Historical evidence does not support the notion
that only one type of chicken laid colored eggs in their native South America. No genetic linkage exists that would
require colored-egg chickens to be tufted or rumpless. It is true the first
recorded imports from Chile
combined the traits of rumplessness, ear tufts, and colored eggs - but those
birds resulted from a single breeder combining several strains and
subsequently misrepresenting them as native fowl. An artist's depiction of
the earliest imports in a 1927 National Geographic article served to
perpetuate this myth. The Ameraucana breed was formulated and standardized,
primarily in the north central U.S., to provide a colored egg
fowl possessing more practical and true-breeding characteristics.
Ameraucanas were recognized as a separate and
distinct breed in the early 1980's by the APA and by the ABA.
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Are Ameraucanas just
mongrels produced by crossing Araucanas with other breeds of domestic
chickens?
As far as can be determined no tufted-rumpless fowl
were used to create any of the eight recognized varieties of Ameraucanas. The
Ameraucana breed has specific requirements with regard to shape, weights, coloring, comb,
earlobes, and so on. While it is true that commercial hatcheries continue to
cash in on crossbred mongrels by advertising them as Araucanas or Ameraucanas,
it takes much more than eggshell color to make a true breed.
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Who decided which attributes the Ameraucana breed would
consist of?
Because general agreement among fanciers could not
be reached, certain American Poultry Association officials created an
Araucana standard and imposed it on the public in 1976 without benefit of the
normally required qualifying process. Quite obviously this standard was
originally a goal to be strived for, but birds were subsequently developed
meeting it’s' requirements. In contrast, Ameraucana bantams were bred first
to conform to a proposed standard, then achieved standard recognition through
the normal qualifying processes. The small group of breeders who developed
Ameraucanas selected its' traits via majority vote.
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Which varieties are
recognized by the American Bantam Association and by the American Poultry
Association?
Eight varieties
have been recognized by both organizations since 1984. They are: Black, Blue,
Blue wheaten, Brown red, Buff, Silver, Wheaten, and White. These same eight
specific color patterns are recognized in both large fowl and bantams
(miniatures).
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Where can I get a list
of Ameraucana breeders to try to obtain hatching eggs and/or birds?
Click here for
the ABC Breeders Directory. It is also
available, in print, from the club Secretary for $2 to club members and $5 to
non-members.
This website
also features the ABC Forum. It is
designed to provide a place to buy and sell Ameraucana chickens, eggs and
related items.
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Are blue eggs, from
Ameraucanas and Araucanas, lower in cholesterol than white and brown eggs?
No. This is a very common question because years
ago some hatcheries claimed that these eggs were reported to be lower in
cholesterol and higher in nutritional value than other chicken eggs. William
O. Cawley, Extension Poultry Specialist at Texas A&M University, wrote a
paper, POULTRYDOM'S MYSTERY CHICKEN - THE ARAUCANA, 10/79, that sets the
record straight.
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