Chickens

Is Your Chicken Really an Ameraucana?

What is the Difference Between an Ameraucana Chicken and an Easter Egger?

Breeding blue egg layers, I get a lot of confusion over Ameraucanas and Easter Eggers. Hopefully this post will clear the difference up for some of you!

Most of the chicks sold in feed stores as “Ameraucanas” or a wide variety of spellings of that name, are not true Ameraucanas.

A true Ameraucana, as recognized by the American Poultry Association, has ear muffs, a beard, and comes in one of eight specific colors which each breed true: Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten, Brown Red, Buff, Silver, Wheaten and White.

The multi-colored chicks you usually find in the feed store are more correctly called Easter Eggers. Both “breeds” are descended from the South American Araucana chicken, which is rumpless. Some countries even consider the Araucana and Ameraucana to be variations of the same breed! But Easter Eggers are not, technically speaking, a breed. They can come in any color or mix of colors and can have a combination of Ameraucana and Araucana characteristics. They usually have pea combs and lay blue or green eggs.

While not usually bred for show, they are one of the best dual-purpose family-friendly chickens: great layers of fun blue and green eggs, cold hardy, and also good meat birds. Our Easter Eggers are among our favorites in our diverse flock.

 

A few of the Easter Egger chicks we’ve hatched this spring
One of our Easter Egger laying hens
An Easter Egger rooster showing a combination of silver and red colors
A blue Easter Egger pullet

6 Comments

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