# Araucanas



## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

Absolutely tons of picspammage in this thread.

I keep a flock of Araucanas. I started last year with a flock of six, two boys and four girls. This year, I have expanded my flock and determined better where I want to go. My 'foundation' birds were a mixture of colors. I only have two of the girls (the cuckoo and adult black hen, later pictured) and my splash rooster, from the original group. I gave the others to another Araucana owner, since they would benefit her flock and breeding goals.

My goal is to breed blue/black/and splash birds. And after this year, looks like I will be able to do so with ease! I only kept birds that would 'work' with that goal, in order to establish a good breeding flock for next year. I bought a few hatching eggs from another breeder for new blood, but most of the hatched birds this year are mine.

In case you were wondering what an Araucana is. This page explains it is better detail, but I will provide a short explanation here. They are a breed of *blue egg laying* birds. They are completely different from the mutt Easter Egger birds sold by hatcheries, and the established breed called Ameraucanas (Ameraucanas are different in several ways). Araucanas are unique because they are bred to be tufted and rumpless. Tufting is controlled by a lethal gene. If a chick inherits two copies of this dominant lethal gene, it will die. So all tufted adult birds can only be heterozygous. Rumplessless is not controlled by a lethal gene and is also dominant. A rumpless bird can be troubled by reduced fertility, but it causes no health problems.

It is OK to have tailed and cleanfaced birds in a breeding program. Since tufted and rumplessness are dominant, it is easy to get them back. Plus, no tufted bird can breed 100% true, 50% is the best you can get, even when breeding tufted x tufted. Because my roosters are both double tufted and rumpless, my odds of hatching chicks that are tufted and rumpless look good!

Finding true Araucanas is difficult. They're rare compared to Ameraucanas and hatchery based Easter Eggers. But they're fun and awesome birds! I love them to pieces. They're quirky and curious.

Black pullet. Tufted and rumpless. 









Same, front shot









Blue pullet. Tufted and rumpless. 









Same, head shot









Uknown color 'pullet'. Tufted and rumpless. 









Head shot









Blue pullet. Tufted and tailed. 









Same, side view. 









Blue duckwing pullet. Tufted and rumpless. 









Front view









Blue pullet. Tufted and tailed. 









Head pic 









Blue pullet. Rumpless and cleanfaced. 









Head pic 









Black pullet. Rumpless and cleanfaced. Has rudimentary tail feathers. 









Blue cockerel, tufted and rumpless. My other black pullet, rumpless and cleanfaced, no tail feathers like the other. 









My splash rooster! A friendly boy! Tufted and rumpless. 









Side picture. A bit of yellowing from sunlight is normal on light feathered birds. 









My adult cuckoo hen! Rumpless with tiny little tufts. 









Side picture. 









My adult black hen. Has one massive tuft! Also rumpless. 









Side picture 









Little blue cockerel. Tufted and rumpless. 









Side picture


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## ksalvagno (Oct 6, 2009)

Very nice looking chickens!


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## littlegoatgirl (Jan 11, 2013)

I love aracaunas! They are such beautiful birds!!!


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## mjs500doo (Nov 24, 2012)

Your unknown is a wheaten color.


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## mjs500doo (Nov 24, 2012)

Also, it is awesome to see a breeder that breeds TRUE to standards. I'm a fan of Araucana but have no luck finding true-breed around my area. 

I have PB Ameraucana, none of that EE hatchery stuff. The Ameraucana I purchased I sold right away to my customers as a gift. 2 hatchery Ameraucana pullets free with each 10 chicks they bought from me. Made a good pick-up line! I have my own EE line that I make using my Ameraucana too covering my copper Marans for olive Egger.


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