The Ameraucana is an American

breed A breed is a specific group of breedable domestic animals having homogeneous appearance (phenotype), homogeneous behavior, and/or other characteristics that distinguish it from other organisms of the same species. In literature, there exist seve ...

of domestic

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

. It was developed in the United States in the 1970s, and derives from

Araucana The Araucana () is a breed of domestic chicken from Chile. The name derives from the historic Araucanía (historic region), Araucanía region where it is believed to have originated. It lays blue-shelled eggs, one of very few breeds that do s ...

chickens brought from Chile. It was bred to retain the blue-egg gene but eliminate the

lethal allele Lethal alleles (also referred to as lethal or lethals) are alleles that cause the death of the organism that carries them. They are usually a result of mutations in genes that are essential for growth or development. Lethal alleles can be recessive ...

s of the parent breed. There are both standard-sized and bantam versions.

History

The Ameraucana was developed in the United States in the 1970s from

chickens brought from Chile. It was bred to retain the unusual blue-egg gene of the Araucana, but eliminate the tufted and rumpless

s of the parent breed. It was added to the

Standard of Perfection The ''American Standard of Perfection'' is the official book of breed standards of the American Poultry Association. It classifies and describes the standard physical appearance, coloring and temperament for many breeds of poultry recognized i ...

of the

American Poultry Association The American Poultry Association (APA) is the oldest poultry organization in North America. It was founded in 1873, and incorporated in Indiana in 1932. The first American poultry show was held in 1849, and the APA was later formed in respons ...

in 1984. The name derives from "America" and "Araucana". The Ameraucana is recognized in the United States as a separate breed from the Araucana. In some other countries, including Australia and the United Kingdom, both the tailed and rumpless variants of the Araucana are considered a single breed.

Characteristics

The Ameraucana is one of the few chicken breeds to lay blue eggs. It shows many similarities to the Araucana, including the pea

comb A comb is a tool consisting of a shaft that holds a row of teeth for pulling through the hair to clean, untangle, or style it. Combs have been used since prehistoric times, having been discovered in very refined forms from settlements dating ba ...

and the blue egg gene. It is tailed, muffed and bearded, whereas the Araucana in the United States has ear tufts and is rumpless. The earlobes are small and round, the wattles small or absent; earlobes, comb and wattles are all red. The shanks are slate-blue, tending to black in the black plumage variant. Eight color variants are recognized in the American Standard of Perfection: black, blue, blue wheaten, brown red, buff, silver, wheaten, white.

References

Chicken breeds originating in the United States Chicken breeds {{Chicken breeds of the United States , state=expanded