Ameraucana Chicken – Eggs, Colors, Facts & More

The Ameraucana chicken is much-sought-after for backyard chicken owners. While it is not a massive egg producer, it does produce a rather unique egg which will be a real highlight when it gets laid. We have Ameraucanas in our backyard flock and we have noticed that the hens have stunning long laying season.

Our hens quit laying in December. Impressive, right?

So, what is the Ameraucana about? That is what we want to take a little look at on this page.

Ameraucana Chicken Facts at a Glance

Eggs	200–300 per year
Egg Color	Blue in various shades
Temperament	Docile
Use	Eggs + Meat (Dual purpose)
Skin Color	Yellow
Comb Type	Pea
Weight	Male Standard: 5.5-6.5 lb (2.5-2.9 kg) Male Bantam: 26-30 oz (740-850 g) Female Standard: 4.5-5 lb (2-2.5 kg) Female Bantam: 24-26 oz (680-740 g)
Country of origin	United States
Foraging	Good
Admitted to APA	1984

Where Does Ameraucana Chicken Come From?

The Ameraucana started to appear in the 1970s. It was bred from the original Araucana chicken. These originated in Chile. It is only in the United States that the two of these are seen as separate breeds.

In Europe, the Ameraucana is simply a variant of the Araucana.

The goal of the breeders with the Ameraucana, was to standardize a chicken with the blue egged trait of the Araucana but without its lethal allele combination.

Its name Ameraucana comes from the words ‘American’ and ‘Araucana’ which is the other chicken breed that lay blue eggs.

Size of the Chicken

The Ameraucana is a medium size bird. It is tough to find a rooster over 6.6lbs in weight and a hen over 5.5lbs. This means that if you are going to be getting some Ameraucana as your backyard chickens, then they are not going to be making a very good meat source.

Although it does not weighs as much as the other meat chicken breads, the Ameraucana is typically raised for meat in the US.

We think that there is simply not enough meat on them.

That being said, as we are about to detail, they are great to make a very good egg source. Actually, we have placed it in our list of the top chickens for eggs for your backyard.

The Look of the Chicken

The Ameraucanas chickens have well spread and medium length tail, muffs, broad heads with large eyes and a pea comb type.

There are several different color variants of the Ameraucana chicken. The ones that you are most likely to encounter will have black plumage and blue legs and feet.

They are unlikely to have a wattle (although, some of them do), and the comb is likely going to be a bright red. It really is a beautiful chicken to look at, and you will often find it dominating chicken shows around the globe.

Ameraucana Chicken Color Chart

The Ameraucana chicken comes in eight color varieties that are recognized by the American Standard of Perfection.

Ameraucana Chicken Colors
Black
Blue
Blue Wheaten
Brown Red
Buff
Silver
Wheaten
White

Let’s take a look at each of the Ameraucana chicken color variants separately:

Black – The chicken has a black plumage with black shanks, beak, beard and muffs. However, it has white feet and toes.

Blue – The chicken has Blue plumage.

Blue Wheaten – Blue plumage with wheaten shades.

Brown Red – Brown-red plumage.

Buff – Standard buff plumage.

Silver – The rooster and the hen in this Ameraucana chicken color variety are slightly different. Both have silver plumage, however, the rooster has black beard and muffs while the hen has light gray.

Wheaten – The chicken has wheaten plumage.

White – Standard White plumage.

Ameraucana Eggs and Egg-Laying

The Ameraucana is an excellent chicken bred for egg-laying purposes. Well, at least for those who want eggs regularly. At the height of the years where the chicken will be laying the egg, you would be lucky to get more than 5 eggs from your hen each week. However, you will surely have between 200 – 300 eggs per year, making the Ameraucana one of the best chickens for eggs.

However, when the eggs do pop out, you may be surprised to see that they are blue. The Ameraucana chicken is one of the few chickens that lay blue-shell eggs.

Yes. They do taste the same as any other chicken egg, but the blue color of the egg really does pop out. Some people do like this uniqueness.

Ameraucana Chicken Temperament

Chickens are always going to have a unique personality. However, the breed of the chicken will likely have an impact on the way that they behave.

For example; the Ameraucana is a breed of chicken that really likes to keep to itself. If you are the type of person that loves to stroke their chickens or play with them, then this is probably not the chicken for you.

They do not really like it. That being said, they are not going to be running away from you. They are quite brave, and some people have stated that the chicken is quite polite. However, this does not mean that they will necessarily enjoy being around you.

If you include them with other breeds of chicken, you do not need to worry about them fighting for space or anything like that. Outside of a few exceptions, these chickens are fine integrating with other chickens.

Is the Ameraucana the Right Breed for You?

If you are not too fussed about egg production, then you will find that the Ameraucana chicken is an easy to raise chicken.

Unlike some of the other more ‘unique’ breeds, you don’t really need to do anything extra to look after your chickens. They just accept whatever else you are doing for your chickens.

The only thing that could probably stand in your way is the fact that these chickens are really tough to find, and if you can find a source for them, the chicks are going to be quite expensive.

That being said, if you are into chicken breeding, they are going to be a fun breed to work with. They are easy to breed, and you do not have to worry about any genetic issues with the breed (this was a major issue in the past with the Araucanas).

While these chickens do great in just about any environment, you may want to steer clear of owning them if the place that you live is excessively hot and humid. This is because they can’t regulate their heat all that well.