Ameraucana Chickens Breed Guide 2024: Size, Eggs, & More

Do you know there is a breed that lays blue eggs and looks like it’s wearing a fluffy beard? That’s the Ameraucana chicken, a friendly and strong breed that comes from chickens that lay blue eggs and is a cousin to the Araucana chicken. 

Ameraucanas come with fluffy cheeks along with a beard instead of ear tufts. They are friendly and calm, not like the Araucana. They are strong and healthy birds. Ameraucanas are more common than Araucanas but are still not very common. 

In addition, Easter Eggers are different from Ameraucana hens, laying green and blue eggs but don’t match a specific breed’s features. Sounds like an interesting chicken breed? Let’s get into its profile in detail!

Ameraucana Chickens Breed Guide 2024: Size, Eggs, & More
Ameraucana Chickens Breed Guide 2024: Size, Eggs, & More 4
FeaturesDetails
Breed NameAmeraucana Chickens
OriginUnited States, bred from Ameraucana chickens from Chile in the 1970s
Egg ColorBlue (shades may vary)
Egg ProductionAbout 200 eggs per year
WeightHens: 5.5 lbs, Roosters: 6.5 lbs
LifespanOver 10 years
TemperamentFriendly, calm, and sociable
AppearanceFluffy cheeks and beard, pea comb, medium-sized, various colors recognized by the APA (Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten, Brown Red, Silver, Wheaten, White)
Size CategoryLight fowl, with bantam versions available
Health IssuesProne to cross beak condition
Space RequirementsSpace Requirements

Ameraucana chickens can lay around three to four blue eggs each week, which adds up to about 200 eggs a year. That’s pretty good for a smaller chicken! They may start laying eggs a little later than other chickens, but it really depends on the chicken itself.

Some of them usually begin to lay eggs when they get 5 to 6 months old. The first eggs could be small, but they’ll get bigger as the chickens get older. In our farms, our Ameraucanas started laying eggs at 6 months, and now we get fresh, organic eggs right from our backyard.

Besides, Ameraucanas have fluffy cheeks, beards, and a type of comb on their head called a pea comb. They’re medium-sized chickens and are known for laying a decent amount of eggs. DO YOU KNOW ABOUT Sapphire Splash Chicken Eggs

Ameraucana Chickens EGGS

The Ameraucana chicken is a lighter bird with a well-rounded chest, a curved beak, a beard, a small, three-ridged comb on top of its head, and a tail of medium length. Its eyes are a reddish-brown color. 

It may have small or no wattles (the flaps under its chin), and its ear lobes are small, red, and hidden under feathers on the side of its head. Their legs are a slate blue color. They usually lay blue eggs, though sometimes the eggs can look a little green. 

Other features include their comb shape, white skin, full tails, fluffy cheeks and beards (which they always have together), and legs that are either slate or black in color; they don’t have ear tufts. 

The American Poultry Association recognizes several colors for this breed: Brown Red, White, Blue, Black, Silver, Blue Wheaten, and Wheaten. While some backyard chickens can live over 10 years, how long your Ameraucana will live depends a lot on its diet, its genes, and its living conditions.

Ameraucana Chickens Facts

They lay blue eggs, which can vary in different shades of blue.
Their small combs generally do not get frostbitten, making them well-suited for cooler climates.
They are super smart egg layers giving around 270 eggs on yearly basis.
They are identified with their unique muffs and beards.

Ameraucana hens are slightly lighter than the average chicken, weighing about 5.5 pounds. The roosters are on the other hand heavier, at around 6.5 pounds. Both are seen as “light fowl,” which means the smaller, bantam version of Ameraucanas is really small.

Ameraucana chickens are much calmer and nicer than Araucanas. They are strong and healthy birds. Known for being friendly and relaxed, they fit well in backyard flocks and with families. 

They’re easygoing, simple to take care of and do well in various places. Ameraucanas are also curious and lively, liking to search around and check out their area.

The Ameraucana is a type of chicken from the United States. It was created in the 1970s from Araucana chickens that came from Chile. The goal was to have chickens that lay blue eggs but without the health problems of the Araucana. You can find Ameraucanas in both regular and smaller (bantam) sizes.

Back in the 1930s, Ward Brown Jr. saw a picture of a chicken laying blue eggs. After many years and lots of mixing different chickens, the Ameraucana chicken was created. It mainly comes from the Araucana chicken from Chile, known for sometimes laying blue eggs but also having some health issues.

By 1984, the breed was officially recognized, and laying blue eggs became a normal thing for them. Ameraucanas are healthier and lay eggs more reliably than their Araucana ancestors.

Ameraucanas have a unique look with a tail that stands up, a smooth face that goes into a beard, and come in 9 official colors. The Black Ameraucana is the most liked one.

Ameraucana Chickens profile

Diet

Ameraucana active chickens really like to wander around all day, catching bugs and other small things they find. However, giving them a good chicken feed will keep them really healthy.

You should be knowing that chicken feed and scratch are not the same. Feed that’s made just for chickens, like pellets or crumbles, gives them the protein, vitamins, and minerals they need to stay healthy. Scratch is more like a snack.

If your chickens can’t roam freely and don’t have access to dirt or sandy ground, you ought to give them some grit they can eat whenever they want. 

I always make sure to leave out a calcium supplement, like oyster shells, especially for my chickens that lay eggs. You ought to give them clean and fresh water too.

Health Issues

Ameraucana and Easter Eggers, which are chickens that lay blue eggs, have a higher chance of getting a condition called cross beak than most other chicken breeds. Cross beak happens when the top and bottom parts of the beak don’t line up right because the skull is a little squished, causing the beak to misalign.

There’s no way to fix a cross beak, and how bad it is can differ from one chicken to another. These chickens can need a lot of extra care to stay healthy because they often struggle to eat. You’ll have to figure out special ways to feed them.

Taking care of chickens with cross beaks means you’re really committing to looking after them because of their special needs.

Space Requirements

They need pretty enough room because they don’t like being cooped up too much. If you can’t let them roam freely, then you should have at least eight square feet of space for each Ameraucana in their enclosure, and even more, if you can, just to make sure they’re comfortable.

Even if you have a big space for them, it’s still a good idea to let them out to roam and look for food a few times a week.

You’ll really start to see their unique personalities when you give them the chance to explore and move around more.

Moreover, you better not to be concerned about predators. Ameraucanas are pretty smart when it comes to avoiding predators, so letting them free-range is usually not a problem. They’re good at getting back to safety when they need to.

Easter Eggers and Ameraucanas often get mixed up. This happens because many Easter Eggers look a lot like Ameraucanas; they often have the same fluffy cheeks and beards. They can also lay blue eggs just like Ameraucanas.

Ameraucanas are a specific breed, while Easter Eggers are a mix of breeds. Easter Eggers comes from breeding an Araucana or an Ameraucana with another type of chicken, like the Silver Spangled Hamburg or Rhode Island Red. They don’t have consistent offspring. Easter Eggers, sometimes called ‘Easter Egg chickens’, can still lay blue eggs.

If you buy more than 100 Ameraucana chickens, each one will cost about $3.50. But if you only buy between one and five, each chicken will cost $4.50.

The fluffy cheeks on Ameraucana chickens can get so big that they block some of their side views. So, even though they’re good at staying away from predators, this feature could make it harder for them compared to other chickens that are always on the lookout for danger.

We’ve had four Ameraucanas, and now we’re down to one. She’s 4 years old and still lays about 5 eggs a week, but lays fewer in the winter. They don’t lay as many eggs as our Rhode Island/New Hampshire Reds and Barred Rocks, but they keep laying pretty regularly.

Ameraucana chickens lay lots of beautiful blue or blue-green eggs and are more than just egg layers. They can handle cold and hot weather both well. They’re careful and smart.

They’re good at finding their own food. Make sure young chicks get a feed with 20% protein until they’re 16 weeks old. After that, you can switch to a 16% protein feed for most of the year. They usually shed their feathers in the fall and will need a 20% protein feed during that time.

Araucanas are small, have beards, and tufts, and lay small blue eggs. Ameraucanas are bigger, might have beards and/or tufts, and lay medium to large blue eggs. The size of the eggs can increase as the hen gets older.

I think Ameraucana chickens are a great pick if you’re into raising chickens. They lay cool blue eggs and are pretty friendly, which makes them fun to have around. You ought to do great care, specifically when it is about what they eat and making sure they have enough room. 

It’s also important to know they’re not the same as Easter Eggers, even though they look similar. If you want a chicken that’s easy to get along with and gives you unique eggs, Ameraucanas are a solid choice.