| Araucana | |||||||||||||||||||
A white Araucana hen showing ear-tufts |
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| Conservation status | Study | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other names | South American Rumpless | ||||||||||||||||||
| Country of origin | Chile | ||||||||||||||||||
| Nicknames | Araucan | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Notes | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Multi-colour egg laying breed | |||||||||||||||||||
| Poultry (Galloanserae) | |||||||||||||||||||
The Araucana, also known in the USA as a South American Rumpless,[1] is a breed of chicken originating in Chile. The Araucana is often confused with other fowl, especially the Ameraucana and Easter Egger chickens, but has several unusual characteristics which distinguish it. They lay blue eggs, have feather tufts near their ears, and no tail (In North America). To comply with the North American standard they must have no tail and are rumpless.
The ancestors of the modern Araucana chicken were purportedly first bred by the Araucanian Indians of Chile — hence the name "Araucana." The Araucana is a hybrid of two South American breeds: the Collonca (a naturally blue-egg laying, rumpless, clean-faced chicken) and the Quetro (a pinkish-brown egg layer that is tailed and has ear-tufts). The Collonca male and female are very similar, with very few secondary sexual characteristics like comb, wattles or tail coverts to distinguish them.
The European equivalent of the North American show standard variety Araucana is what one comes across in South American villages. Quechua and Mapuche do not have tufts and resemble the Ameraucana.
The current world wide Araucana Standard (except North America) indicates a medium to large sized chicken with a tail that lays bluish-green eggs. Specific features are feather ear tufts, muffs and beards, with a very much reduced comb, a small feather crest and a complete absence of wattles. The current North American standard calls for a chicken that is rumpless (missing their last vertebrae and lacking a tail), possesses ear-tufts (feathers that grow out from near the birds' ears), and lays blue eggs. In the United States and Canada, muffs, beards, and tails are all disqualifications.
The Ameraucana should also lay blue eggs, but unlike the Araucana it has a tail and possesses muffs and a beard, which are quite different from the tufts of the Araucana, and no feather crest.
The Araucana's eggs are not more nutritious than eggs of other colors, nor do they have any negative health effects.
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There has long been debate whether Araucanas were bred from chickens brought by Europeans to South America after Columbus or rather arose from chickens brought, perhaps by Polynesians, directly over the Pacific Ocean from someplace nearer to all chickens' presumed ancestral home in Southeast Asia. If Araucanas predate the Europeans in South America, their presence implies pre-Columbian, trans-Pacific contacts between Asia and South America. In 2007, an international team of scientists reported the results of analysis of chicken bones found on the Arauco Peninsula in south central Chile, and their results were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.[2] This initial report suggested a Polynesian, pre-Columbian origin. However, a later report from the same specimens concluded:
A published, apparently pre-Columbian, Chilean specimen and six pre-European Polynesian specimens also cluster with the same European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian sequences, providing no support for a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America. In contrast, sequences from two archaeological sites on Easter Island group with an uncommon haplogroup from Indonesia, Japan, and China and may represent a genetic signature of an early Polynesian dispersal. Modeling of the potential marine carbon contribution to the Chilean archaeological specimen casts further doubt on claims for pre-Columbian chickens, and definitive proof will require further analyses of ancient DNA sequences and radiocarbon and stable isotope data from archaeological excavations within both Chile and Polynesia.[3]
The APA Araucana belong to the following Poultry Class AOSB "All Other Standard Breed " while the ABA belongs to the following class "All Other Comb Clean Leg". In Great Britain, the PCGB (Poultry Club of Great Britain) classifies it as Light, Soft Feather.
The colours recognized by the APA/ABA/PCGB are :
The APA recognizes 5 colors "Black , White , Black Breasted Red , Silver Duckwing , Golden Duckwing "
The ABA recognizes 6 colors " Black , White , Black Breasted Red , Blue , Buff , Silver"
The PCGB recognizes 12 colors " Lavender, Blue, Black/Red, Silver Duckwing, Golden Duckwing, Blue/Red, Pyle, Crele, Spangled, Cuckoo, Black and White.
When the Araucana was first introduced to breeders worldwide in the mid-20th century, the genetics that produced tufts were recognized to also cause chick mortality.[4] Two copies of the gene cause nearly 100% mortality shortly before hatching. The tufted gene is dominant, however. Because no living Araucana possesses two copies of the tufted gene, breeding any two tufted birds leads to half of the resulting brood being tufted with one copy of the gene, a quarter being clean-faced with no copy of the gene, and a quarter of the brood dead in the shell, having received two copies of the gene.
In the decades to follow, most breeders took one of two tacks — either to preserve the old style of bird, or to breed out the tufts while increasing productivity.
In 1976, the first standards for the breed were accepted by the APA, conforming to the traditional style.[5] This was followed, in 1984, by a second standard for the "improved" variety.
The gene for blue eggs is dominant, so the term "Easter Egger" is used to describe birds of mixed breeding that produce such eggs. Unfortunately, these mixed breeds are often incorrectly labelled as Araucanas or Ameraucanas, and marketed to backyard poultry hobbyists who are not aware of the difference.
In short, the differences are as follows:
| Cock | 6-7 lbs (2.7–3.2 kg) |
| Hen | 5-6 lbs (2.3–2.7 kg) |
| Rooster | 1.6-1.87 lbs (740g–850 g) |
| Hen | 1.5-1.75 lbs (680g–790 g) |