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How to breed a new breed? Take two different breeds, cross with each other, compile the names of the original breeds, patent the name. Done! Congratulations! You have developed a new breed of animals.
Laughter laughs, but in the United States of America it is indeed a practice to call a two-breed cross of animals the compiled name of the two original breeds, even if it is a cross between the first generation and the parents of the “new” breed live in your house.
For example, what is "Schnudel"? No, this is not a schnitzel, it is a cross between schnauzer and poodle breeds. And cockapoo - Cocker Spaniel + Poodle, apparently, will soon become the official breed in the United States.
The Ameraukan breed of chickens was bred in about the same way. South American chickens Araucana breeds crossed with local American hens. Due to the ability of the araucana to transmit the ability to bear colored eggs during crossing, the hybrids also differ in the original color of the shell of the eggs laid.
In general, in the Ameraucana breed, apart from the furious name, not everything is so sad. Crossbreeding of chickens began in the 70s of the last century, and a new breed was registered only in 1984.
The requirements for ameraucana are quite serious so that the hybrid of the first generation still cannot be attributed to the breed.
But professional poultry farmers are offended hearing such a name. Because of the nuances in the formation of shell color, they consider the ameraucanu to be a breed, and not just a “chicken with colorful eggs”.
And the eggs of the ameraucana are really multi-colored, since, depending on the color of the second parent, the araucana conveys the ability to carry either blue or green eggs. While Araucana itself bears only blue.
Considering that the Araucana was crossed with chickens of various colors when breeding a new breed, the Araucana lays eggs of all shades of blue and green.
Adult chickens, by the way, have a very decent weight: roosters - 3-3.5 kg, chickens - 2-2.5 kg. And the weight of the eggs is quite decent: from 60 to 64 g.
Chickens Ameraukan, breed description
There are 8 officially registered colors in the breed.
Wheat blue
Wheat
Red brown
Blue
Lavender
Silver
The black
Dark yellow
White
With so many standard colors, there simply cannot be many intermediate options. And if you remember the American predilection for a variety of colors in animals, it becomes clear that such intermediate options exist. But everyone can get their original ameraucan by mixing different colors.
A distinctive feature of the ameraucan is the sideburns and beard, which are separate bunches of feathers and almost completely hide the head of the chicken, as well as the metatarsus of an unusual dark color.
Ameraucana looks like a proud, arrogant bird with large brown eyes, with which it will haughtily glance at its owner after destroying a couple of ripe strawberry beds.
Strong wings will make it possible for the ameraucane to leave the owner without a harvest of fruit on the trees, since contrary to the statement “a chicken is not a bird,” this chicken flies very well.
Of course, this will happen only if you do not attend to the construction of a closed-top aviary for the ameraucana.
Roosters and chickens differ little from each other. The scallops of the ameraucan chickens are small, the rooster is somewhat larger. The tails also differ little: both are set at an angle of 45 ° to the body of the bird and both are medium in size. The tail of a rooster cannot be called luxurious. It differs from chicken only in some curvature of the feather.
The advantages of the breed are multi-colored eggs. Moreover, the color and intensity of the eggs of the same hen often depends on factors known only to the hen itself. A regularity was noticed that at the beginning of the next egg-laying cycle, the egg shell is colored brighter than at the end. Apparently the dye cartridge is running out. But whether the eggs are blue, pink or green (and in the same lay cycle) is most likely determined by the combination of genes dropped on a particular egg. This range is not surprising given the history of the breed.
The direction of the breed is meat and egg. Moreover, with a good body weight and eggs, ameraucana also has a fairly high egg production from 200 to 250 eggs per year. The laying hen ripens a little later than hens of a purely egg direction: at 5-6 months, but this is successfully compensated by a long period of productivity: 2 years versus 1 year in egg hens.
Nevertheless, to guarantee the ameraucan, it will have to be hatched either in an incubator or under another chicken in which this instinct is well developed.
In general, Ameraucana is distinguished by a docile disposition. No, this is not a disadvantage. The disadvantage is the aggression of single ameraucana roosters towards people and other animals. Since Americans really do not like the slightest manifestations of aggression from animals towards people, they work on this flaw in the breed, isolating the aggressive bird and trying to keep it out of breeding.
Growing features
In addition to the need to obtain chickens in an incubator, there are no special nuances in keeping and feeding ameraucana. For raising chickens, a special feed for chickens is quite suitable. If there is no opportunity to feed such food, it is quite possible to prepare food for chickens on their own from crushed grains with the addition of animal protein and premixes.
As animal protein, you can use not only traditional boiled eggs, but even finely chopped raw fish.
Ameraucans need long walks, so there is a free exit from chicken coop in an aviary they are vital.
When buying chickens, it should be borne in mind that broods born in February-March are the most viable.
Why breeders of ameraucan are offended
To understand what the breeders' grievances are based on, you have to figure out exactly how the egg shells are painted. After all, outwardly, ameraucans really do carry colorful eggs. So why can't they be called Easter, like other chickens laying colored eggs?
The color of an egg is determined by the breed of chicken that laid it. This is the topmost layer of the outside of the shell. For example, Rhode Island lays brown eggs, but the inside of the shell is white. And the brown "paint" is relatively easy to wash off if the egg lays down, for example, in chicken droppings for several hours.
The ameraucana, like its ancestor the araucana, has really blue eggs. The shell is colored by the bilirubin pigment secreted by the liver. The shell of the ameraucana egg is blue inside. This, by the way, makes it very difficult to see the eggs through.Thus, both Araucana and Ameraucana carry only blue eggs... Moreover, they are truly blue, and not just "Easter" ones - painted on top. And the surface color of ameraucana eggs is determined by a combination of genes responsible for the blue and brown color of the surface layer. In this case, the outer layer of the egg can be blue, olive, green, yellow, and even pink.
In addition to the fact that the "ameraucana only lays blue eggs", there are also problems with the international recognition of this breed.
The Ameraucana standard is accepted only in the USA and Canada. In the rest of the world, only the Araucanian standard is recognized, including the one with a tail. Although there is a difference between the tailless araucan and the tailed ameraucana, even at the genetic level. The ameraucana lacks the lethal gene responsible for the development of tassels in the araucana.
Nevertheless, at international exhibitions, all chickens that do not meet the Araucana standard are counted among the chickens that "lay Easter eggs." This is what offends breeders working on ameraucana and making strict requirements for the breeding stock.
Ameraukans-bentams
The breeders have bred a decorative form of ameraucana - Bentham. Small ameraucans differ from large ones only in size - the weight of birds is up to 1 kg, and the weight of an egg is on average 42 g. The rest of the requirements for the breed of miniature ameraucans are the same as for large chickens.
Reviews of the owners of chickens ameraukan
Unfortunately, in the Russian-speaking space, the ameraucana is still very rare and there are practically no reviews of the Russian-speaking chickens about the exotic chicken. On the English-speaking forums, the feedback is mainly focused on the discussion of the problem of egg color. Due to intra-breed cleavage, the breed is not yet established, the color of the egg often does not meet the expectations of the owners.
The review of one of the few owners of ameraukan living in Barnaul can be seen in the video.
The video of another owner from the city of Balakovo convincingly proves that ameraukan chickens actively lay eggs even in winter.
Conclusion
The Ameraucan breed is gaining popularity in Russia and, perhaps, soon there will be at least a few Ameraucan heads in every yard.
I bought 5 chickens of Ameraukan. The chickens are great. We entered at 5 months, every day. The shades of the eggs are different.
Good reviews about these chickens. Excellent brood hens. And in the incubator, the yield is 95%.