Araucana

The Araucana is a medium-sized chook that hails from South America, and it's instantly recognisable for two reasons: the blue shell on its eggs, and the feather tufts that sprout from small flaps of skin near its ears. Plenty of Araucanas are also rumpless, born without the tail bone and long tail feathers most other breeds carry.

That blue shell isn't a surface tint. The pigment, oocyanin, is laid down through the whole shell wall, so crack one open and the inside is blue too. It's this trait that set the Araucana apart from the standard brown and white layers, and it became the genetic starting point for the blue and green egg hybrids bred later on.

Temperament-wise, expect an independent, curious bird that stays on the move and keeps an eye on what's going on around it. Araucanas forage hard when they get the chance, which makes them a better fit for a free-range setup or a decent-sized run than a cramped pen.

Who it suits

The Araucana suits a keeper after something different in the egg basket and a bird that's happy to get on with things itself. Give it space to range and it'll stay occupied all day without much fuss from you. The tufting and rumpless genes do bring breeding complications though (covered in the Health and Hatching sections below), so anyone thinking about hatching their own chicks should get across the breed's lethal-gene issue first.

The Araucana takes its name from the Araucanía region of Chile, where the Mapuche people were keeping chickens that laid coloured eggs long before outsiders paid any attention. Early written accounts point to two separate local types, one carrying ear tufts and one rumpless, and the merging of those two traits into a single recognised breed came later. Where the foundation birds actually originated is still an open question among poultry historians.

Wider interest picked up in the early twentieth century when the Spanish poultry researcher Salvador Castelló studied chickens in Chile during the 1910s and wrote up the blue-egg trait for an international readership. That's effectively how the rest of the poultry world found out about it.

From the 1920s, breeders across Europe and North America got hold of the birds and worked them along their own lines, which is why no single Araucana standard applies everywhere. The American Poultry Association added the breed to its Standard of Perfection in 1976, describing it there as both rumpless and tufted. Britain and several European countries went a different way, standardising a tailed, crested bird instead, so the same breed name can describe a genuinely different-looking chook depending on which country you're in.

Because both the tufting gene and the rumpless trait bring inheritance problems, the Araucana also ended up as the genetic base for crossbreeds such as the Easter Egger and, later, the Ameraucana, both of which keep the blue-egg trait without the lethal-gene risk attached to the purebred.

The Araucana carries itself as a compact, medium-sized bird with an alert, upright stance. Two features set it apart: the ear tufts, feather clusters that grow from small skin flaps just below the ears, and the rumpless rear, where the missing tail bone and tail feathers leave the body finishing in a rounded curve. Not every bird shows both traits at once, and which count toward the standard varies by country.

The comb is a small, low-set pea comb, a shape that copes well in cold conditions and also survives the odd heatwave better than a large upright comb, since there's less exposed tissue to sunburn on a stinking hot day. The face is clean, and the body carries full, hard feathering throughout.

Coat and colours

Standards recognise the Araucana in a wide range of plumage colours. Black, white, blue, black-breasted red, silver duckwing and golden duckwing turn up most often, though the full accepted list shifts depending on which standard you're reading. Skin and shanks usually run willow or slate rather than yellow. The feathering sits tight and sheds water well, which helps the breed cope with a wet, cold snap as long as it's got somewhere dry to shelter.

This is a bird that likes to keep busy. The Araucana forages hard, covers plenty of ground when it's allowed to, and keeps half an eye on the sky and the fence line the whole time, which makes it a solid choice for a free-range setup. It's an independent type that doesn't need fussing over, and it tends to sort itself out within a flock without much input from you.

Handled often from chick age, an Araucana will settle down around family and regular carers, but don't expect a lap chook. The more highly strung individuals can spook if startled or kept somewhere too tight, and around strangers they'll watch closely rather than turn aggressive.

Around other pets and in a mixed flock, the breed generally settles in fine under calm handling, though that alert streak means it reacts fast to anything out of the ordinary. Because it hates being cooped up, boredom and stress show up far more in a small run than out in the open.

Day to day, the Araucana is a low-fuss breed, provided it gets the standard poultry care plus enough room to satisfy its urge to forage. The tight feathering and pea comb handle a cold snap well, but the bird still needs dry, draught-free housing and solid predator-proofing, whatever the season.

Grooming

• Set up a dry dust bath so the flock can look after their own feather and skin condition.
• Check the ear tufts and the skin underneath whenever you're handling a bird, as that area can be tender.
• Give the vent, feet and feathers a regular once-over for mites and lice.
• Trim nails or spurs only if they've grown enough to get in the way of normal movement.

Exercise

• Give the flock daily free-range time or a genuinely large run; this breed goes downhill fast in a tight pen.
• Set up perches and varied ground cover so there's plenty to forage over and roost on.
• Fence securely or cover the run, since these birds are flighty enough to clear a low barrier in a short flight.

Environment

Keep the coop dry and well ventilated without leaving it draughty. A pea comb shrugs off frostbite better than a big single comb does, so cold isn't much of a worry, but damp bedding and poor airflow will cause respiratory and foot problems no matter the season. The bigger issue for most Australian backyards is heat, not cold: run shade cloth or plant something leafy over the run, position the coop out of full afternoon sun where you can, and check water isn't sitting in the sun turning warm, because chooks stop drinking water that's gone hot and heat stress sets in fast on a 40-degree day. A predator-proof coop and run matter just as much, since an alert bird that likes to range spends a fair bit of time away from cover.

Feed the Araucana a complete commercial poultry feed matched to its life stage: starter for chicks, grower for growing birds, and a layer feed once hens start laying, since that's where the extra calcium for strong shells comes from. Birds out foraging will top themselves up with insects and greens, but the complete feed should still do the heavy lifting. Offer insoluble grit so the gizzard can grind feed properly, and put out a separate calcium source, crushed oyster shell works well, for laying hens.

Treats and supplements

Keep treats to around 10 percent of the daily diet so they don't crowd out the complete feed. Leafy greens, cooked grains and a small handful of mealworms or other insects all make good extras. Fresh water needs to be available around the clock, and laying hens should always have a calcium supplement on hand to keep shell quality up.

As an adult, the Araucana is a hardy bird that copes well with the cold thanks to its pea comb and tight feathering, and a well-kept bird typically lives 7 to 8 years. Most of its real health concerns are genetic rather than environmental, and they show up around breeding and hatching rather than in day-to-day care.

The ear-tuft trait carries a lethal gene. Chicks that inherit two copies of it usually die before hatching, which is why pairing two tufted birds together knocks the hatch rate down. The rumpless trait can also cut fertility, because the shape of the rear vertebrae changes the mating angle. Neither of these is something you treat, they're genetics you plan a breeding program around.

Preventive care

• Keep housing dry and well ventilated to head off respiratory and foot problems.
• Check for mites and lice at every handling and treat early if you spot any.
• Give layers the calcium they need to avoid soft shells and reproductive strain.
• Quarantine any new arrivals before they join the flock.
• Plan breeding pairs carefully to avoid doubling up the tuft gene (see Hatching below).

The Araucana does best in a secure coop backed by as much outdoor range as you can offer. Keep the coop dry, airy without being draughty, and locked up tight overnight against predators. Because this breed hates confinement, the run or free-range area attached to that coop matters just as much as the coop itself. Fit roosting bars for overnight and keep the nest boxes clean for laying.

Setup checklist

• A dry, ventilated coop with a solid roof and a door that shuts securely.
• Roosting bars positioned above the nest boxes, not beside them.
• Clean, bedded nest boxes tucked into a quiet corner.
• A large run, or supervised free-range time, for daily foraging.
• A dust-bathing spot with dry, loose soil or sand.
• Predator-proof fencing or a covered run, plus reliable shade and fresh water once the weather heats up.

Araucana eggs sit on the same 21-day incubation schedule as any other chicken egg, given the right temperature and humidity. The real challenge with this breed is genetic rather than procedural. The tuft gene is lethal in its double form, so pairing two tufted birds costs you a good number of embryos before they ever hatch. To keep hatch rates reasonable, breeders generally pair a tufted bird with a clean-faced one, which avoids doubling up the gene while still producing tufted chicks in the next generation. Rumpless birds can also run lower on fertility, since the shape of the rear end affects mating.

Hatching steps

1. Pick fertile eggs from a planned mating (tufted by clean-faced is the usual pairing) and store them pointed-end down for no more than about a week before setting.
2. Get the incubator steady at 37.5°C and the right humidity before you add the eggs.
3. Turn the eggs several times a day right through to day 18.
4. At day 18, stop turning, lift the humidity for hatching, and leave the incubator closed (lockdown).
5. Let chicks dry off fully in the incubator before moving them into a warm brooder with starter feed and water on hand.