Ameraucanas

 Ameraucana

 The breed was bred in the United States in the 1970s and recognized by the APA (American Poultry Association) in 1984. There are eight officially recognized varieties: Black, Blue, Blue Wheaten, Brown Red, Buff, Silver, Wheaten and White. They are mostly non-aggressive and easy to handle birds. Major characteristics of the breed

• Ameraucanas have pea-combs, which is a medium-size comb with three ridges running lengthwise from the top of the beak to the top of the head, with the middle ridge slightly higher than the others.
• They don’t have wattles. Wattles are the red fleshy things that hang from under a chicken’s chin. In chickens that have wattles, wattle and the comb serve to dissipate heat, helping the bird control its body temperature. Because Ameraucanas don’t have wattles to speed heat loss and pea combs are relatively small as combs go, they are especially tolerant of cold temperatures.
• "Bay" or reddish-brown eyes
• Red ear lobes
• "Slate" (blue) shanks and feet. Blacks can have black shanks and feet. The bottoms of their feet are white and the feet have four toes.
• "Horn" colored (neutral, not yellow), curved beaks
• White skin
• Feathery muffs and beards
• A distinct tail
• Large and bantam sizes are officially recognized. As defined by the Ameraucana Breeders Club, weight ranges can go from 24 ounces for a bantam pullet to 6 ½ pounds for a large fowl cock.
• And most famously, they lay various shades of pastel blue to blue-green eggs.That Famous Blue Egg Color
• One of the most obvious traits of the Ameraucana, and the one that is most noted by non-poultry enthusiasts, is the blue eggs they lay. The color can range from sky blue to pale tourquoise, and with cross-breeding and dilution of the breed, the color range expands into pinks, greens and yellows. According to an article by Rosalyn Upson of the Araucana Club of America, “the blue color is caused by the deposition of a liver bile pigment throughout the egg and can be seen on the inside of the eggshell.”