" FAQ "


Araucana Description as per APA/ABA : The Araucana is rumpless , Tufted , Red Earlobe & Peacomb, Yellow skin and they have the distinction of laying Turquoise or blue shelled eggs.

Araucana Breeding : Unfortunately The Araucana does not always reproduce true and this can happen even with perfect show birds.

Some possibilities in Araucana:

1) No tufts or one tufts or uneven tufts.

2) Egg color density will decrease as laying season progress.

Araucana characteristics to avoid:

1) Tail or part tail

2)  Eggs that are white, brown or Dark Olive.

                 

Differences between Araucana & Ameraucana

Both breed are recognize by the APA & ABA standard they each have their own requirements. Maybe as much as 99% of chickens sold as Araucanas or Ameraucanas by commercial hatcheries are actually neither, and not totally meeting the requirements of either breed. Majority of the people do not know their differences so it is easy to get confuse.

In reference with the APA & ABA standard their major differences are

Araucana: is rumpless and have ear tufts and is yellow skin.

Ameraucana: has a tail and sports muffs and beard in the facial area and is white skin.                                  

What is commonly called Easter Egg Chicken is the result of crossbreeding, it is a  nondescript type of chicken whose conformation does not fit any recognized poultry standard, but whose hens lay eggs of colors other than brown or white.  Unfortunately, this type of chicken is commonly sold as Araucana or Ameraucana due to the dominance of the blue egg gene.  

 

Used of the term “Easter Egg Chicken” appropriately

I believe the use of the term “Easter egg chicken” to be inappropriate when referring to the Araucana, just as it would be for the Ameraucana.
The term Easter egg chicken is well defined on the following website

Canadian Araucana Society (CAS) website: www.members.shaw.ca/CanadianAraucanaSociety/FAQ.htm


“Easter Egg Chicken: is the result of crossbreeding, it is a nondescript type of chicken whose conformation does not fit any recognized poultry standard, but whose hens lay eggs of colors other than brown or white. Unfortunately, this type of chicken is commonly sold as Araucana or Ameraucana.”
Ameraucana Breeders Club (ABC) website: www.ameraucana.org/faq.html#TWO

“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 American Poultry (APA) and/or Association American Bantam Association (ABA) standards.”
Also nowhere in the APA or ABA Standards will you find the Araucana or Ameraucana referred as Easter egg chicken.

The above references, in my opinion, should be the first one to go by since they are from official breed clubs and official North American poultry associations. I also believe this to be an opinion shared by most, if not all, breeders, as well as non-breeders.

The following might explain why the term Easter egg chicken is still inappropriately used. The term might have been appropriate when first used years ago in some references such as in the 1948 National Geographic article named “Easter egg chickens” as well as in many others.
In those days, there was no such thing as an official recognized standard for the Araucana, therefore it was only fair game to use the term which meant and included any type of chickens that laid colored eggs. Since then many things have changed; the APA and the ABA have both recognized the Araucana and approved a specific standard to which they are judge by and bred to. The same is true for many other countries.

The term “Easter egg chicken” should be use only to describe all birds that lays colored eggs but are not officially recognized as a breed by an official poultry association, such as ABA or APA for North America or in accordance with other countries standard.

This is one of the reasons why there are so many people that still confuse the names Araucana, Ameraucana and the Easter egg chicken. We need to start using the appropriate terms to describe them. The use of their appropriate name to identify them is very important; it would be just as inappropriate for us breeders to call all birds that lay colored eggs Araucana or Ameraucana if they would not fit their described standard, or sell Araucana under the name Ameraucana and vice versa. I am sure it would make a lot of unhappy buyers.

Because we can still find references that use the term Easter egg chicken to describe Araucana, or Ameraucana for that matter, does not make the term accurate or right for the using, Furthermore continuing the use of this term to refer to our Araucana only helps perpetuate information that is far from being accurate.
It is our duty, as disseminators of information, to make sure we do it as accurately as possible.