Araucanas, Ameraucanas and Easter Egg Chickens

I don't have any purebred Araucanas. These rumpless (tail-less) and ear-tufted birds from South America are very hard to find. They are known for laying blue eggs. Most of the so-called Araucanas in the US are mixes that carry some of the original genes and lay variously colored eggs: blue, green, or pinkish. These birds are sometimes (and more honestly) sold as Easter Egg chickens. They come in white and many other colors. The American Poultry Association also recognizes a bird called the Ameraucana, which lays colored eggs and has muffs and a beard, not ear tufts, and comes in standardized color varieties. The Araucana and Ameraucana also come in a bantam form. And if you want to get even more confused, look at the (probably ancestral) Rapanui. And for more info try: Araucana, Ameraucana or Easter Egger (Olive Egger, Rainbow Layer): What's the difference?

Due to the large number of images, I have divided this page into four parts; a page each for

True Araucanas,

Ameraucanas,

Easter Egg Chickens

and a separate page for

chicks.

And now I have added a fifth page for egg color charts.

And this is not to mention the UK version of the breed, which is found at the bottom of this page. The UK standard calls for a bird that is like an Ameraucana with a small crest.