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It is very difficult to describe the
history of the “AMERAUCANA” breed to everyone’s satisfaction. Some would say
that it is “America’s NEWEST breed”, emphasizing its most recent developments;
but that description overlooks and would deny the long history of the bearded
muffed tailed blue egg layers that existed long before adoption of the
ABA and APA Standards for “AMERAUCANAS”, when such birds were being raised and
shown as one type of “ARAUCANA”, going back to imports from southern Chile in
the 1930’s. But in spite of its long
history, it is correct and accurate to say that the “AMERAUCANA” is “America’s
most newly recognized APA/ABA Standard Breed.”
As you may know, a breed is NOT a BREED
until the APA or ABA
say it’s a “BREED”. For those who may not know the breed
characteristics, “Ameraucanas” are first and foremost BLUE EGG layers.
They MUST have “pea combs”, and be bearded and muffed and tailed, and CANNOT
have any tufts. They also MUST have slate blue legs, and red ear lobes (females
pale). There has been a definite relationship established between the “Pea
Comb” gene and the “Blue Egg” gene. Both these genes have been shown to be
carried on the same chromosome, and thus closely related.
No history of the “Ameraucana” could be
complete without understanding some of the history of the “Araucana” breed. But
one should first understand that the “Araucana” as we know it, was never a
“pure” breed, even in Chile.
To generalize the situation as briefly
as possible; going back Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards, the
Mapuche Indians in Chile had TWO breeds of chickens raised in different areas
of the country: One they called the “Collonca”, which was small, laid BLUE
eggs, rumpless, and had a small single comb; the other they called the “Quetro”
or “Quetero”, derived from their word “kerto” meaning stammering, referring to
its peculiar crow. The “Quetro” was TUFTED, had a flowing tail, pea
comb, and laid brown eggs --- “Tufted rumpless” occurred when a rumpless bird
crossed with a tufted tailed bird, but these offspring were rare. The latter
were later called “Collonca de Arêtes” by the Spanish, meaning “Collonca with EARRINGS”.
These “Collonca de Arêtes” were blue egg layers, since the blue egg gene is
dominant.
In 1556, the Mapuche Indians were
attacked again by the Spanish, and an epic poem named “La Araucana”, was
written by Alonso de Ercilla about their bravery. This name later stuck with
the Indians, and subsequently with their chickens. The name derives from the Gulf of Arauco,
near Conception, Chile.
Dr. Rueben Bustos, a chicken expert in Chile, had
himself developed a strain of the so-called “Collonca de Arêtes”, and
wrote about the Araucana in his country, in 1914. But these breeds remained
quite unknown to the world until Professor Salvador Castello, a Spanish poultry
expert, who had observed and photographed some “Collonca de Arêtes” at an
exhibition in Santiago in 1914, later reported on these birds in 1921 in a
paper to the First World’s Poultry Congress in the Hague (Holland), causing a
flurry of excitement throughout the poultry world. Prof. Castello did not
realize at that time that the “breed” that he had seen and described was NOT
native fowl, as he had been told by Dr. Bustos, but rather were the product of
Dr. Bustos’ many years of selective breeding. Professor Castello later
corrected himself in 1924 – but by then the wave of interest in these birds had
already begun, and many erroneous ideas had already developed, based upon the
original 1921 paper, which was erroneous. [Many of these erroneous ideas are
still in circulation today.]
Many persons since then have devoted an
enormous amount of time investigating the origin of these Pre-Colombian
chickens and the blue egg gene. Their papers are available and are VERY
interesting. They generally illustrate that many of the characteristics of
these chickens are apparently of ASIAN (Trans-Pacific) origin.
The first description of the Araucana
to be published in this country was done by John Robinson in the Reliable
Poultry Journal of 1923, with photos showing tufted rumpless birds. Later, in
1925, Mr. Keller of the Pratt Experimental Farm in Pennsylvania
wrote about his small flock – the first Araucana imported to the USA. The
earliest imports were mostly of selected rumpless and tufted varieties. Later
imports were made up of “Araucana” of all types, among which were bearded
muffed tailed varieties, all of which then were bred here in the USA. All of
these were at that time labeled “Araucana”.
Of special importance to the Ameraucana
history is that a shipwreck of a Chilean freighter many decades ago, in the
Western Isles of Scotland, established there a type of blue egg layer from
Chile, which were tailed, bearded and muffed, and these birds became the forbearer for the birds now recognized as
the Standard “ARAUCANA” in Britain and Australia. These vary only little from
our present “AMERAUCANA” Standard. Some of these birds at times
reportedly produce tufts, and also rumplessness, showing the possibility of the
presence of regressive traits with some of these genes.
Responding to a general “Araucana
fever”, due to their promotions for “Easter Egg” chickens, and false and wildly
exaggerated claims about the extra healthfulness of Araucana eggs, commercial
hatcheries expanded a frantic effort to outcross blue egg laying “Araucana”
with everything else, and sell them as “Araucana”, when they were nothing more
than mongrels (which sales are still continuing today). However, there
were a number of dedicated breeders who attempted to keep what they each viewed
as the “original Araucana” from becoming extinct, and various groups formed,
but each had their own idea of what a “Standard Araucana” should be. AMONG THEM
WERE BEARDED MUFFED TAILED TYPES, but these were far from being standardized.
Prior to 1976, there were breeders
specializing and developing BOTH the tufted rumpless type of “Araucana” and the
bearded muffed and tailed type (and everything in between), but efforts were
made by a few dedicated breeders to standardize their own preferred varieties
of “Araucana”, and each sought adoption of their OWN version of a Standard for
an “Araucana” breed. This proved to be VERY contentious, and set the stage for
much misunderstanding and ill-feelings, which unfortunately is continuing today
in some areas. Leading up to that recent period, bearded muffed and tailed blue
egg layers were being advertised in the Poultry Press some thirty-eight years
ago, as “Araucana”, and being shown and awarded as “Araucana”. ABC Charter
Member Harry Cook, of New Jersey, had been working with what later came to be
“Ameraucanas: since prior to 1960, and Harry generated letters between the ABC
and Clarence Begler who bred bearded and muffed “Araucana” even prior to that,
more than 44 years ago. Mike Gilbert also had written, “Back when I was
experimenting with various Araucana stocks, birds were produced with BOTH
tufts and muffs, but the lethal factor associated with the ear tufts resulted
in their selective elimination…” Regardless of other characteristics, the
Araucana and the Ameraucana are BOTH distinguished from other poultry by
being layers of BLUE EGGS, unique among chickens, and sought after
primarily for that reason.
Responding to such breeding efforts
with the “Araucana”, and the very widespread contention, and in order to
attempt to define just what was an “Araucana” (as it was being developed in
this country), the APA in 1974, under the direction of Pres. John Freeman,
entered the fray. For the 1975 APA Convention in Pomona, CA,
the Araucana breeders were invited to present their case, and a “Qualifying
Meet” was set up. They were represented by a group called “Action for
Araucana”, and this group presented FOUR different proposed Standards to the
APA, but NOT ONE could be accepted because NONE of the “Standards” conformed to
even ONE of the types present there to be “qualified”, which birds also were
ALL DIFFERENT. The Judges then followed the only guide they had, Mr. Robinson’s
1924 description. The APA Standards Revision Committee was then directed to
proceed to develop a Standard for “Araucana”.
Two years later in 1976, the APA
accepted the description recommended by the Standard Revision Committee, which
required “ARAUCANAS” to be tufted and rumpless, similar to Dr. Bustos’
developed strain of “Collonca de Arêtes”, thereafter formally DISQUALIFYING all
birds formerly shown as “Araucana” which were bearded, muffed, and tailed. This
action was not greeted with universal acclaim and was denounced by those
breeders who had favored the bearded muffed tailed types. Even after adoption
of that Standard, the “American Araucana Breeder’s Association” was still
attempting in 1977 to get acceptance of an APA Standard that would include BOTH
tufted and bearded, rumpless and tailed. But that organization
soon folded, without success. As should be clear by now, all the arguments
about what was the “original” Araucana were just so much nonsense and
misunderstanding, and continues much so today, as there never was any such
“pure” breed. The new “Araucana Standard” clearly was adopted as a “GOAL” to be
achieved in future breeding; as no such proven “type” had yet been “qualified”.
After the adoption of the APA
“Araucana” Standard in 1976, those breeders who had been carefully breeding and
improving the bearded muffed types of “Araucana”, were out in the cold, ruled
“out” for exhibit as no longer “Araucana”. Nevertheless those bearded types
were continuing to be shown, as “Araucana” – sometimes as “American Araucana”.
Events leading to the development of the “AMERAUCANA” Standard, and the
Ameraucana Bantam Club (Now Ameraucana Breeder’s Club) had commenced well
prior to that 1976 action when the late Jack Bulette, an ABA Director,
suggested to Don Cable of Orangevale, California, a suburb of Sacramento, that
he do something about that mixed up state of the “Araucana” breed. Don was at
that time a seventh-grade science teacher in Orangevale,
a baseball coach and manager, a breeder and exhibitor of various breeds of
poultry, including pigeons and cage birds, and a member of various poultry
clubs. Don saw that development of the tufted rumpless type of “Araucana” was
preceding well in the hands of several individuals, including our mutual friend,
Ralph Strane (now Secretary of the Araucana Club of America). Ralph had succeeded in
developing a strain of white tufted rumpless large fowl Araucana that were (and
ARE) outstanding, and Don Cable then turned his attention to those bearded
muffed tailed blue egg layer bantams, also being shown then as “Araucana”.
Don got a trio of bearded tailed
bantams from a nearby large flock of “Araucana”, and began a program to try to
achieve a measure of standardization from those bearded blue egg layers. Don
struggled hard to achieve the desired shank and plumage color with limited
success, and passed several years with great frustration, when in 1977 he
happened to see a photo in the Poultry Press of Mike Gilbert, then living in Iowa, holding a wheaten
bantam pullet with the characteristics that Don had been seeking. Mike had
shown the bird as an “American Araucana” at the Eastern Iowa Poultry
Association Show of which group he was President in 1978. Mike had been
“tinkering” with some bearded blue egg layer bantams in multi-colors, that he
had originally obtained from Marti Hatcheries in Missouri, and had bred them up to standard
varieties, but especially fell in love with the “wheaten” (shown in Poultry
Press). Somehow, Don got his number and called him and asked about Mike’s
stock. Don sent for a trio, and Mike sent him two pair. Don says, “I was so
delighted with the birds that I began hatching, though late in the season, and
was delighted again to find that they bred true to color.”
Thereafter, Don and Mike began
exchanging letters in which they discussed forming a club for the purpose of
seeking ABA
recognition of this “new breed”. Don offered to serve as interim
Secretary/Treasurer, if Mike would serve as interim President of the proposed
Club, to gather interested breeders together, and hold an election. Mike was
aware of several potential club members, and together with Jerry Segler, of Illinois, and Don Cable,
they scoured the membership lists of “Araucana” clubs that they had belonged
to, all of which had folded! In the meantime, Mike moved with his family from
Iowa to rural Holmen, in western Wisconsin, to live on some 40 acres, mostly
woodland, which gave him loads of room – 22 miles north of LaCrosse to which he
commuted daily to his accounting business, until 1982 when he became a fulltime
farmer until 1986 (Mike currently works for the Farm Credit System). Mike sent
out the first copy of the newsletter to prospective members, but insists that
“It was really Don’s persistence that got us off the ground.” UPS and the
Postal Service were really kept in business during that time by the
correspondence going back and forth between California
and Wisconsin!!
The club was formed in the summer of
1978 (so far without a name), with eleven Charter members, from all points of
the country – few, if any, of which knew each other personally – and even
Dorian Roxburgh, Secretary of the British Araucana Club. Included among these
original members was the late Frank L. Gary, Chairman of the ABA Standard
Revision Committee. All these members had been working independently of each
other on the improvement of the bearded type, but now came together in a common
cause – ABA
recognition of their bearded muffed tailed type blue egg layer. The situation
in 1978 was a mixed bag at best. Commercial hatcheries had continued selling
anything that laid an egg other than white as “Araucana” or “Easter Egg”
chickens – and were making outrageous claims about the superiority of the
“Araucana” eggs for higher protein and lower cholesterol, which were totally
FALSE. With the “Araucana fever” that had developed, everyone wanted to try
their hand at this new promotion. But two former “Araucana” clubs had recently
folded due to internal squabbles, and one had been carrying on a running public
feud with the leadership of the APA in both newsletters and through the Poultry
Press. This atmosphere caused many a serious breeder to bristle at the mention
of the “Araucana”, but the new Club began to organize in the middle of this
somewhat hostile environment.
From the beginning, the new Club
operated on a democratic basis – by majority vote – and decided to propose at
first only the colors wheaten and white. Some breeders in Oregon quit when the Club refused to accept
mixed colors; the other members feeling that would be counter-productive. The
question of breed name, weights, shank color, etc. were all put to a VOTE, and
those points that gained the majority of votes were compiled by Mike Gilbert
into a proposed Standard. There was some support for the name “American
Araucana”, but the name “Ameraucana” won out. A proposed Standard was developed
in early 1979, and put to a vote. Mike commented on the results of the vote as
follows: “Thanks to each of you who have participated in making our voting
process a success … We have decided on slate colored shanks by an overwhelming
margin. We have voted for red earlobes by a nearly two to one margin, we have
decided on the weight category calling for 30 oz. mature cock birds, and we
have chosen the name “AMERAUCANA” by a margin of nearly two to one.” The first
election of officers too place soon thereafter, in the fall of 1979, with Don
and Mike being elected to the offices that they had held on an interim basis.
The Club then had some 28 members, from eleven states, and two foreign
countries, and was growing!
Now all were breeding for uniformity
and conformance, all to the proposed “Standard”.
Although there had been resistance and
hostility by some Club members in Oregon,
after they dropped out the organization proceeded smoothly on track. But there
was continued great hostility from outside the Club, and a regular campaign was
conducted by letters in the Poultry Press accusing the Club of all kinds of
skull-duggery – of trying to undermine the fancy, and make a huge profit by
selling stock to unsuspecting newcomers to the fancy. The correspondence became
so heated, that the Poultry Press refused to print any more letters on the
subject until things cooled down. In particular, Don Cable took a great deal of
personal abuse from the opposition, persons aligned for their own special
reasons against the bearded muffed tailed type of blue egg layers.
By 1979, there were enough wheaten
bantams “Ameraucana” in California to hold an ABA “qualifying meet” for
breed recognition. (Don Cable had continued with his breeding program, and had
shared his stock, now happy with the results.)
In November 1979, an ABA Qualifying
Meet was held with the Golden Gate Club in Pleasanton, California.
ABA Judge Bill Holland of Idaho
(later to become President of the APA) judged the meet, and reported among
other things that, “The birds were of consistent color and type.” Bill Holland, along with Jack Bulette, the
ABA Director, strongly recommended acceptance of the “Ameraucana” breed as a Standard.
The following May 1980, The Board of Directors of the ABA voted unanimously to accept the
“Ameraucana” bantam. The proposed Standard written by Mike Gilbert, based on
the members’ voting, and with editing assistance from Don Cable and others, was
accepted by the ABA,
without change. Afterward, Mike wrote, “Our birds now can be shown for the
first time without fear of disqualification as a non-standard type or breed. We
all owe Don Cable a debt of gratitude for the tremendous amount of energy,
dedication, and work which he has selflessly given to our cause.”
Along with the summer 1980 newsletter,
copies of the Club Constitution, as ratified by the Board of Directors, were
distributed to all members, and the Club took on a formal existence. The
fifth edition of the ABA
Bantam Standard in 1981 carried the complete Standard for the “Ameraucana”
bantam, including the variety descriptions for wheaten and white.
In 1980, “Ameraucanas” were entered
under that name officially in various meets, as reported for the Oct. 4-5, 1980
Show in Viroqua, WI, in which Mike Gilbert, Bernard Kellogg and Jerry Segler
were the “Ameraucana” winners.
The first ABC NATIONAL MEET was
held November 28-30, 1980 in Bluegrass,
Iowa, sponsored by the Eastern
Iowa Poultry Association, with Jerry Segler and Ron Klemmedson winning all.
(Mike Gilbert was suddenly unable to attend). Jerry’s whites had been
outstanding. The “Ameraucana Bantam Club” continued to grow and by 1982, when
the Club handbook was published, it listed 36 members from all areas of the
country, but somewhat concentrated in Wisconsin
and California.
Included as a member, was Bill Holland, later President of the APA. Also in
1982, Jeanette Frank, later to become our President, Secretary/Treasurer and
Editor, joined the ABC, with Don Cable noting, “Jeanette received her start in
Ameraucanas from Jack Fugate of Tennessee,
and she has wheaten. She is our first member from the State of Montana, and the third from the Rocky
Mountain States.” John Blehm, from Birch Run, Michigan, had also joined by that time. The
Breeders’ Directory listed 20 active BREEDERS.
The 2nd ABC NATIONAL MEET was
held on January 30-31, 1982 in Santa
Rosa, CA at the
Pacific Poultry Breeders Association “California National”. Twenty Ameraucanas
were shown by three members, all in wheaten bantams, and Don Cable carried the
day. Five members were present. In the summer of 1982, the Poultry Press
carried an article written by Cathy Brunson, President of the Araucana Club of America, in
which she called for more cooperation and mutual understanding among ALL
breeders of blue egg fowl. Don Cable wrote her a congratulatory letter, and
received a warm reply.
Don Cable and the Ameraucanas had taken
quite a lot of brickbats in the poultry journals over the years as mentioned
previously – Jeanette Frank once wrote that she had been told by an APA/ABA
judge that “he would NEVER place an AMERAUCANA, as they are nothing but
out-crossed Araucana.” I, myself, have had similar experiences, when six years
ago I pointed out to an APA/ABA judge at a Connecticut show that the bird that he had
just awarded a “blue” to as an “Araucana” was bearded and muffed and tailed,
and thus disqualified as an “Araucana”. His reply was that “the term ‘Araucana’
doesn’t mean anything more than a blue egg layer”. Then in Columbus, Ohio, at
the 1994 APA National, when I observed that the judge had awarded a “blue” to a
large fowl black “Ameraucana”, with yellow legs, I pointed out to the judges
that yellow legs are a disqualification – and that prompted a loud general
discussion among them and others – I overheard a comment that “These
Ameraucanas shouldn’t even be allowed in the Show – they’re nothing but
bastardized Araucana.” This is stated
here just to illustrate how ignorance and ill-feeling persists still today!
The Ameraucana Bantam Club published
its fine “Handbook” for members at the end of 1982, with details about the
breed and the Club, and listing 36 members. Additional varieties were then
being developed, largely by breeders in the upper Midwest.
Enough progress had been made by 1983 to attempt to qualify six additional
varieties with the ABA
and to try to qualify the breed (bantams only) in all eight varieties with the
APA. The site chosen was the first-ever APA/ABA joint meet in Columbus, Ohio
in November, 1983.
Going into that meet, the Club had 38
members on record. For that Qualifying Meet, Affidavits had to be submitted
from not less that five (5) breeders “stating that they had bred the breed for
not less than five (5) years, producing not less than 50% of all specimens true
to type, color, size, and comb.” Don Cable, Mike Gilbert, Jerry Segler, Jaime
Ikeda, Bernard Kellogg, John Wunderlich, Bill Wenger, and Harry Cook all
supplied the required documentation. This demonstrated a great record of
success and consistency in “Ameraucana” breeding. But they knew that they were
facing a rather hostile reception in some circles. As Don Cable has written,
“Where opposition to acceptance by the ABA
had been vocal and obvious, we were to find our opposition in the APA more
subtle, among a very few key officials.”
That 1983 APA/ABA Nation Meet turned
out to be the LARGEST poultry show EVER held in the USA, up to
then, with some 10,400 entries by 717 exhibitors. Six Club members attended and
exhibited 75 Ameraucana bantams. Those members were Don Cable, who flew in from
California with his birds in a converted steamer trunk; Jerry Segler, Illinois;
John Wunderlich, Missouri; Bernard Kellogg, Dave Horman, and Mike Gilbert from
Wisconsin; John Fugate, Tennessee; Ray Gwynes, Georgia; Frank Gary, New Jersey;
and Bill Holland, Idaho. Jerry Segler had the largest entry.
The 1983 Show was the first time that
Don Cable had net Mike Gilbert and Frank Gary personally, as well as the others
there, after all those years working together! The Ameraucanas made quite a hit
at the show, and all the present varieties, except buff, were shown. Later Don
Cable would write, “When we began to put the Ameraucana breed together and
standardize the various points such as lobe and shank color, overall size and
type, etc., it seemed as though it was an almost impossible task, particularly
since we as breeders were scattered across the continent, and cooperation, much
less coordination, was hit and miss at best. In spite of those obstacles, when
we met in Ohio
for our qualifying meet, the uniformity of the breed, gathered from all
parts of the nation for the first time, was absolutely uncanny!
The ABA almost immediately informed the Club of
the acceptance of the additional varieties, including “buff” (which hadn’t even
been shown). Those varieties being: White, Wheaten, Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten,
Brown red, Buff and Silver.
Fred Jeffery, Secretary/Treasurer of
the ABA, and
Frank Gary, Chairman of the Standard Revision Committee were extremely
cooperative at every step of the qualifying process. By vote of the Club Board
of Directors, Frank L. Gary was named our first Honorary Vice-President, and
was presented with a plaque of appreciation.
Unfortunately, the APA was not as
responsive as the ABA.
Although Don Cable and Mike Gilbert waited throughout the APA general meeting
for news of the qualification results, no mention was made of the
“Ameraucanas”, and when they inquired where they could find the Standard
Committee Chairman, it turned out that he had already flown home, with the
records.
Many letters followed, some of which
were far less than cordial, and more telephone calls! Finally, at the
termination of the next APA National the following year in Wisconsin, Mike Gilbert
was present to hear the great news, and Don received a letter from the APA
President that the APA Board of Directors had voted unanimously to accept the
‘AMERAUCANA” Standard, approving the acceptance of all eight varieties of the
bantams, AND THE SAME VARIETIES IN THE LARGE FOWL AS WELL. As Don wrote
later, “the officers of the APA had acted in a fair and responsible way, and
they have my thanks and support as a member.”
After the numbness wore off, the Club
was astounded, as they had done nothing to promote the large fowl acceptance,
though Mike Gilbert had been working since 1981 with the APA on the possibility
of accepting our “Ameraucana Standard” (for bantams only). However, Tom
Lippencott, from Ohio
who headed the “Araucana Boosters Club” had promoted a similar breed to the APA
for acceptance in Large Fowl, but under a different proposed Standard and under
a different name. The APA acted on this initiative, but accepted the name and
standards of our Ameraucana Bantam Club.
This action completed the efforts to
gain acceptance of the AMERAUCANA breed officially, and the breed and the
Ameraucana Bantam Club were off and running! Shortly thereafter, our Board of
Directors voted to change the name of the Club to the “AMERAUCANA BREEDERS
CLUB”, to recognize the inclusion of Large Fowl to the breed. And thus
concludes the early history of the breed and the Club.
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