Blue Ameraucanas

 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.

Eight color variants are recognized in the American Standard of  Perfection: black, blue, blue wheaten, brown red, buff, silver, wheaten, and white.

Some of the best news about the Ameraucana is that they don’t really have many health issues to speak of.

This is mainly due to the selective breeding done when creating the breed.

As mentioned previously, the Araucana suffers from a genetic disorder that kills many of the chicks before they even hatch.

The breeding out of this genetic disorder meant that Ameraucanas are very happy, healthy chickens that shouldn’t have many health issues at all.

You’ll likely enjoy the company of your Ameraucana for around eight years.

A sure-fire family chicken, the Ameraucana is a friendly and laid-back soul that will be quite docile around any fellow flock member.

Despite this disposition, they aren’t likely to be a lap chicken like a Silkie or a Polish hen, as they tend to keep to themselves and stay out of trouble for the most part.

This isn’t to say that they don’t enjoy having you around, however. 

They’ll certainly tolerate you and give you some lovin’ but they aren’t likely to stick around long enough for the cuddles and the pets.

You’re probably thinking, based on all of this information, that the Ameraucanas are pretty low on the pecking order, right? That’s not necessarily the case! Ameraucanas will sit pretty comfortably in the middle of the pecking order despite their docile and friendly nature and the fact that they’re smaller than most other chickens. They’re very unlikely to pick on chickens that are lower down on the pecking order, though. As we mentioned, they like to keep to themselves and can usually be found foraging out in the yard. 

Ameraucana chickens don’t have any specific dietary needs, meaning you’ll be fine feeding them what you feed the rest of your flock.

Chicks will need a 21% starter feed. They will eat Starter from the day they’re born until they are around 8 weeks old. Once they’re 8 weeks old, you’ll want to switch them to an 18% grower feed.

Grower is fed to pullets from 8 weeks up to when they lay their first egg.

Once their first egg is laid, you’ll need to switch them to a 16% layer feed.

It should be noted that it might take a little longer for Ameraucanas to lay their first egg, and in some cases, it can be upwards of 30 weeks until you see it.

Keeping them on their grower feed until this time is perfectly fine.

This Layer Feed will be the main source of nutrition for the rest of their lives, but you can add in treats like scratch, or Oyster shell to aid in egg production.

  Pros Cons   Beginner friendly. Can be expensive in some cases. Blue eggs. Average egg production. Doesn't often go broody. Mature slower than the average chicken. Good with kids. Doesn't do too well when they can't free range regularly. Good in hot and cold temperatures Sometimes. Hard to find a "true" Ameraucana chicken.    

Ameraucana chickens won’t need any special coop setup like a Brahma chicken does.

They’re small enough that you’ll just need four square feet per bird inside the coop.

You may even be able to get away with a little less, but only if they can free-range all day in your yard. 

If they’re confined to the coop and run a majority of the time, you’ll need four square feet per bird.

A standard-sized nesting box (12 in. x 12 in.) will suffice for Ameraucanas.

If you build larger boxes, you might find that multiple birds will start to nest in the same box, which leads to broken eggs.

You don’t want these eggs to break!

As for their run, you’ll notice pretty quickly that Ameraucanas love to roam.

They need a decent amount of space because they don’t do very well with confinement.

If you don’t have the facilities to allow them to free range, then you’ll want to make sure you have at least eight square feet of space per Ameraucana inside the run, and preferably more just to be safe.

Even if you can provide them with a larger run, we still recommend allowing them to free-range and forage a couple of times a week.

You will notice their personalities start to come out when you allow them this time to find their food and stretch their legs.

If you’re worried about predators, don’t be!

Ameraucanas are very predator-savvy,  so free-ranging shouldn’t be a problem at all, as they’ll easily find their way back to safety if they need to.