Araucana Chickens
I have restarted my flock of Araucana. These are pictures of my previous birds. My current birds are far too young to produce eggs, let alone fertile hatching eggs. It will be some time until eggs are available again!
One of the critters here at the farm are purebred Araucana chickens. These are the real deal, not mislabeled Easter Eggers. My flock mostly consists of blue, black, and splash large fowl birds. The blue and splash are not APA accepted colors for Araucanas, but I am very fond of the colors and the ease of genetic predictability. The black Araucanas are APA accepted.
Araucanas are a rare breed in the United States. Their main traits make them quite unique! They lay striking blue eggs, have ear tufts, and are rumpless!
Tufting and rumplessness are both dominant traits, but that doesn't make it easy to breed for great birds! Tufting is lethal in its homozygous form, so all chicks that are homozygous die shortly before hatching. Rumplessness can affect fertility, as it is easier for a tailed bird to copulate. Birds can also carry the recessive allele for tails, leading to either full tails or incomplete tails. But the challenge of the breed is part of the fun!
Araucanas are a rare breed in the United States. Their main traits make them quite unique! They lay striking blue eggs, have ear tufts, and are rumpless!
Tufting and rumplessness are both dominant traits, but that doesn't make it easy to breed for great birds! Tufting is lethal in its homozygous form, so all chicks that are homozygous die shortly before hatching. Rumplessness can affect fertility, as it is easier for a tailed bird to copulate. Birds can also carry the recessive allele for tails, leading to either full tails or incomplete tails. But the challenge of the breed is part of the fun!
Araucana eggs next to a Black Copper Marans egg and an Australorp Egg. In natural light, they look even better!
An example of ear tufts on a blue hen, taken from above.
Araucana are fantastic mothers. My cuckoo hen is the best of them all. She keeps the chicks with her until they are as big as she is! Araucana are prone to going broody, which can complicate egg collection.
Double tufted and rumpless blue rooster. I only keep roosters that are tufted and rumpless.
Sometimes getting good pictures of tufts on chicks is difficult. But the sunlight helped illuminate the awesome tufts on this little splash chick!
Keeper chick from 2013 that is double tufted and rumpless.
Magnificent set of tufts on a black hen.
Blue hen that is tufted and rumpless.
A rumpless but cleanfaced black hen. Because tufting is a dominant trait, my tufted roosters will correct this!