Ameraucana

The Ameraucana is a medium-sized domestic fowl bred in the United States, kept here mainly for its blue-shelled eggs and its steady, good-natured temperament. The breed is easy to pick out in a run: a beard under the beak and muffs along the cheeks give the head a full, rounded look that no other breed quite matches.

Ameraucanas are dual-purpose birds, though most Irish keepers raise them purely for the eggs rather than the table. Hens lay at a steady rate, and the blue shade runs right through the shell rather than sitting on top as a coating, so it shows on the inside as well as the outside once you crack one open. Several colour varieties are recognised within the breed.

The Ameraucana suits back-garden flocks, smallholdings, and anyone keeping hens for the first time. Birds stay alert without turning flighty, and they cope well whether penned in a run or let forage more freely, which matters given how often an Irish garden is too wet underfoot for constant free-ranging. They settle in well alongside other placid breeds in a mixed flock.

Who it suits

Suits keepers after coloured eggs and a bird that is no bother to handle. Children and new owners tend to get on well with Ameraucanas, since the birds are tolerant and rarely cross. Anyone wanting a high-output commercial layer or a proper meat bird would be better looking elsewhere.

The Ameraucana's roots go back to blue-egg-laying chickens brought to the United States from South America. Birds carrying the blue-egg gene became known across North America under the general name Araucana, though that stock varied enormously in type and traits, nothing like the settled standard poultry keepers expect today.

Through the 1970s, American breeders worked to fix a consistent standard for a blue-egg bird that did not carry the lethal genetic faults tied to the tufted, rumpless Araucana. What they were after was a tailed, muffed, bearded bird that bred true and laid reliably blue eggs, generation after generation.

The American Poultry Association admitted the Ameraucana to its Standard of Perfection in 1984, and the American Bantam Association recognises a bantam version besides.

The Ameraucana is a distinct breed from the Araucana and from the Easter Egger, a mixed-type hen that may lay blue, green, or other coloured eggs but has no recognised standard of its own. It is the defined standard for colour, type, and beard that sets the true Ameraucana apart from those birds, a distinction worth knowing before buying hatching eggs sold simply as blue egg layers.

The Ameraucana has a compact, well-rounded body and carries itself upright. The head is the giveaway feature, with a beard below the beak and muffs covering the ear area. The comb is a small pea comb that sits low against the skull, which helps the breed shrug off cold, damp spells better than large single-combed birds do. Wattles are small or barely there at all.

Legs run slate blue to black and carry no feathering, with four toes to a foot. The tail sits at a moderate upward angle rather than standing tall or trailing low. Bantam Ameraucanas follow the same type scaled down.

Plumage and colours

The American Poultry Association recognises eight colour varieties: black, blue, blue wheaten, brown red, buff, silver, wheaten, and white. Plumage sits close to the body rather than fluffing out. The beard and muffs need to be full enough to frame the face clearly, and that fullness is one of the first things a judge checks on a show bird.

Ameraucanas have a name for a steady, good-natured temperament. They notice what is going on around them but do not carry on like some of the flightier, lighter breeds when startled. With regular handling they tame down and put up with being picked up without much fuss.

In a mixed flock the breed usually sits somewhere in the middle of the pecking order rather than lording it over the rest. Hens get along fine with other calm breeds and with people, children included. Cocks are generally manageable, though temperament varies bird to bird, and any cock is worth keeping an eye on around young children regardless of breed.

The breed is not a noisy one. Hens give the usual laying call but are not constant chatter, which is handy if the run backs onto a neighbour's garden.

Ameraucanas are hardy and ask for no special grooming beyond standard flock care. The pea comb and close plumage help them handle cold reasonably well, though Irish winters bring damp as much as cold, and damp is the thing that actually causes trouble in a coop, not low temperatures on their own.

Grooming

• Check the beard and muffs for caked feed or mud, particularly around wet feeders
• Look over feet and legs for scaly leg mite or injury while handling birds routinely
• Provide a dry dust-bathing spot so birds can keep their own feathers in order
• Watch for external parasites under the muffs and around the vent

Exercise

• Give daily access to a run or supervised free-range time
• Allow room to forage, scratch, and dust bathe
• Aim for at least 1 square metre (about 10 square feet) of run per bird where the garden allows

Environment

The breed copes with cold well thanks to the small comb, but Irish weather is as much about rain as frost, and a permanently sodden run causes more grief than a cold snap ever will. In warmer spells provide shade and constant fresh water. A predator-proof coop with good ventilation and dry bedding keeps birds well right through the year, whatever the forecast throws at it.

A complete commercial poultry feed should make up the bulk of the diet. Chicks need a starter feed with a higher protein content, growers move on to a grower ration, and laying hens need a layer feed with added calcium for strong shells. Fresh water needs to be available around the clock.

Treats and supplements

Offer treats such as leafy greens, mealworms, or cracked grain in small amounts so the diet stays balanced. Provide crushed oyster shell free choice for laying hens to keep shells strong, and offer insoluble grit if birds eat anything beyond the complete feed, since Irish gardens rarely give hens enough natural grit on their own.

The Ameraucana is generally a robust, healthy breed, developed specifically to steer clear of the lethal genetics tied to the tufted Araucana. With decent husbandry, birds commonly reach 7 to 8 years old. Most health trouble that crops up is the ordinary sort that affects any back-garden flock, damp climate or not.

Preventive care

• Keep the coop dry, well ventilated, and clear of droppings, all the more important given Irish rainfall
• Quarantine new birds before adding them to the flock
• Provide a year-round dust-bathing spot to keep external parasites down
• Supply free-choice calcium for laying hens
• Check weight, comb colour, and feet during routine handling

A standard chicken coop suits the Ameraucana fine. The breed handles cold reasonably well, so the priorities are dry bedding, solid ventilation without draughts at roost height, and keeping predators out, foxes especially, which are no strangers to an Irish back garden. Provide roosting bars off the floor and nest boxes for laying hens. Keepers building up a bigger flock should also check current registration requirements with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM), since poultry-keeping rules in Ireland do shift from time to time, especially around avian flu.

Setup checklist

• Predator-proof coop with secure latches and buried or skirted fencing
• Dry, absorbent bedding refreshed regularly, doubly important with Irish rainfall keeping ground wet for days at a stretch
• Roosting bars raised off the floor
• Nest boxes tucked into a quiet, dim corner
• Fresh water and feeder kept out of the rain
• A shaded spot in the run for the odd warm spell

Ameraucana eggs incubate the same as any standard chicken egg and hatch in about 21 days. Fertile eggs can go under a broody hen or into an incubator. Ameraucanas are not strongly broody as a breed, so an incubator is often the steadier route to a decent hatch rate.

Hatching steps

1. Pick clean, undamaged fertile eggs and let them settle to room temperature first
2. Set eggs in the incubator at about 37.5°C with humidity around 45 to 55%
3. Turn eggs several times a day right through to day 18
4. Candle around days 7 to 10 to clear out any that are obviously clear or not developing
5. At day 18 stop turning and raise humidity for lockdown
6. Leave the incubator closed while hatching happens, and let chicks dry off fully before moving them to a brooder