# Tell me about Ameraucanas



## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Lady in Germantown discovered one of her Ameraucana chicks is a rooster. She can't have a rooster in town and wants me to take it since I recently lost my rooster.

The rooster is 4-5 months old now. She hasn't tried to make it a pet, but said he's good with the other hens (which I would expect since they are all the same age and raised together!). 

What type temperament might I expect from an Ameraucana rooster? I've had one horribly mean rooster and one sweet as pie rooster. I prefer the sweet ones!


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## Sanza (Sep 8, 2008)

I've never had a mean one, but I find them to be more skittish and standoffish then my marans roos.


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

i love them, always try and keep at least one on hand in my flock, is it a true Americanna or an Easter Egger? true Americannas are bred to standard color/type/egg color etc. an Easter Egger is anything that came from a Hatchery or any mix breed that still carrys the Blue/green egg gene,


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## MO_cows (Aug 14, 2010)

We have had 2 Ameracauna roosters and both of them were nice boys.


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## lambs.are.cute (Aug 15, 2010)

I've always loved mine. They are pretty laid back and watchful for the hens. Mine are huge - as big as the marans and bigger than the rhode island roo that I had.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

KSALguy said:


> i love them, always try and keep at least one on hand in my flock, is it a true Americanna or an Easter Egger? true Americannas are bred to standard color/type/egg color etc. an Easter Egger is anything that came from a Hatchery or any mix breed that still carrys the Blue/green egg gene,


Oh, I have no idea. Haven't seen it yet. She told me the three goats I got from her were pygmies, but they're Nigerian Dwarf goats. LOL...


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## poultryprincess (Aug 9, 2002)

I bought a black Americauna from a breeder. He said the roo might be a bit mean because he lived his 3 years in a cage.
He was the King Pin with 16 hens, & he was Always a gentleman. 
He Never attacked me & would take treats from my hand 
( all my hens took treats from hand, so he learned it from them)
He was a pleasure from start to finish.
I was sad when he pulled a hamstring chasing the girls & eventually went lame.

Good Luck with your new roo!


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

The Ameraucanas I have had are sweet birds. There are exceptions to all, but the exceptions make good soup.


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## zephyrcreek (Mar 30, 2012)

true Ameraucanas are normally very nice. I have wheatens, and love love love them. With Easter Eggers you just never know because you don't know what the actual breeding is, and each hatchery does it a little different. I have had some that were super sweet, and others from the same hatch that were the most skittish birds I have ever owned.

Just a note from earlier comment, if they lay green eggs they are mixed. Pure will only lay blue eggs, and they could be so pale that they appear white as genetically a white egg is blue with a modifier gene. Green eggs are from a cross of a blue egg layer and a brown egg layer.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

Skittish I don't mind, it's downright mean I don't like. My rooster Randy was downright mean. He was an ill tempered Dominique and I'll never have another one. Randy was so aggressive that I wouldn't set foot in the chicken pen and hubby wouldn't without boots, long sturdy jeans (although Randy once tore a chunk out of hubby's leg through jeans) and a big stick. As long as we had that nasty Dominique rooster I had to feed my chickens through the fence!

Randy is the reason I am being so picky about my next rooster. Honestly, I went from the meanest rooster on earth to the sweetest rooster (Strayhorn) to ever live. I want to stay on the sweet side with the next one!


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

i think my post was in referince to the EasterEgger side where they are only EasterEgger if they have blue or green eggs, other colors are just mutts with no distinction, Easter Eggers can lay Blue eggs if they are from two pure Americanna color lines createing a non Standard color/type but everything else is the same, or if a true Auracanna is crossed with a Americanna or a white egg layer keeping the egg shell blue but nothing else meets the Standard


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## zephyrcreek (Mar 30, 2012)

I have had some lovely Dominiques....so each bird is really individual. The lines have to do more with it than breed. Some of my Black Java cocks are as sweet as can be, but the Garfield lines have a tendency of being aggressive, and of coarse they have some important traits that other lines do not carry. lol. So I crossed my lines, and kept only the nicest Garfield cocks. 

There is NO reason to keep around a mean cock. I'm just flabbergasted when I hear about all these bad stories. I breed rare heritage birds. They can be very difficult to find, but if one starts acting aggressive and mean it is given one chance, and then it ends up on our dinner plate. They are a dime a dozen, there is no reason to tip toe around your own farm.


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## pancho (Oct 23, 2006)

I have an easter egger that lays a blue egg. Just looking at her you couldn't even guess what mix she is. Looks just like a mixed barn yard hen.


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## zephyrcreek (Mar 30, 2012)

I have EE's that lay blue eggs also. I cross my pure cock to Freedom Ranger hens, and then cross those offspring back to the pure cock again. They actually look almost pure except they are much meatier than my pure hens. They are great layers, with larger than average eggs and a pretty blue to boot. Because I keep the color lines similar they look unifrom. 

I hatch out 100's of birds every week. I want rainbow eggs to sell to customer, and cockerels that will grow out quickly (for a non meat breed) for our freezer. It has worked better than I expected. The eggs are nice and large, and all the offspring have great personalities. The tough part is I need to find another pure cock to replace my guy as he is getting up there in age. Not easy to find as people really don't understand that the Americauna they bought from the feed store of hatchery is really not an americauna.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

zephyrcreek said:


> I have had some lovely Dominiques....so each bird is really individual. The lines have to do more with it than breed. Some of my Black Java cocks are as sweet as can be, but the Garfield lines have a tendency of being aggressive, and of coarse they have some important traits that other lines do not carry. lol. So I crossed my lines, and kept only the nicest Garfield cocks.
> 
> There is NO reason to keep around a mean cock. I'm just flabbergasted when I hear about all these bad stories. I breed rare heritage birds. They can be very difficult to find, but if one starts acting aggressive and mean it is given one chance, and then it ends up on our dinner plate. They are a dime a dozen, there is no reason to tip toe around your own farm.


The Dominiques were given to me by my Daddy just a few months before he died of colon cancer. I refused to let hubby kill the rooster because it was one of the last things my Daddy ever gave me. I know it was silly (Daddy certainly would have thought so) but I just couldn't do it.


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## Pa funnyfarm (Jun 22, 2002)

Aww Raven, not silly understandable. As for the Ameracuna (prob just butchered that spelling) ;0 , that's what my last batch were sold as 10 or so years ago, but Easter Eggers is what I was told they were. Pretty blue green eggs and they were really friendly. The little roo didn't last here due to a complaining neighbor (who now has a loud goat so I guess current chickens may not draw fire) but the girls all came to their names and loved to be petted and fussed over. I hope yours is as sweet.


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I hope so too! I'll be getting him Friday or Saturday.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

the americona rooster will be a good addition to your flock adding color to the eggs of your next generation of eggs if you want to add more meattyness to your flock he is likly a bad choise they uasally are calm tempered I have a few hens from differint hatcheries some are much heaver laying bigger eggs but the males just don't put on as much meat as the rocks or newhampshiers(a favorite)


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## Ravenlost (Jul 20, 2004)

I only have chickens for the eggs, so meatiness isn't an issue.


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## CNCfamily (Sep 13, 2010)

KSALguy said:


> i think my post was in referince to the EasterEgger side where they are only EasterEgger if they have blue or green eggs, other colors are just mutts with no distinction, Easter Eggers can lay Blue eggs if they are from two pure Americanna color lines createing a non Standard color/type but everything else is the same, or if a true Auracanna is crossed with a Americanna or a white egg layer keeping the egg shell blue but nothing else meets the Standard


Can you tell just by looking at them, or do you have to know where they came from and their breeding?


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

you can tell by looking if they are bred to the Standard, only specific colors and only one body type is accepted, none of the wild and crazy looking birds you get from hatcherys or most back yard flocks are bred to Standard, Black, White, Blue, Wheaton, Blue Wheaton, Buff, and i think Silver are the accepted colors, anything else is non standard and called an Easter Egger, also Ameracannas have beards and muffs not ear tuffts, and not a smooth face,


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## CNCfamily (Sep 13, 2010)

I'm thinking mine is a crazy looking hatchery one then!


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## suelandress (May 10, 2002)

I've never had a mean EE or Ameraucana, but with more than one rooster around, they have been very aggressive with each other.


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## gunnar wordon (Jun 13, 2012)

they lay blue eggs. True Ameraucanas are actually relatively hard to find.........


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## sugarspinner (May 12, 2002)

Had an Americauna rooster. He lived to be very old, was beautiful with a long, flowing tail and had a very gentle personality. He was, however, a solitary sort; preferring, until his last few months, to roost in a tree above the chicken yard rather than in the hen house. If anything seemed amiss, he would raise quite a ruckus to alert the girls. He did seem protective of them, though not against us, even tho these hens were none of his original flock.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

I had two EE hens that were the most skitish and stupid of my flock. Pretty though so I got a fair price for them when I couldnt stand catching them one more bloody night to put them away with the other hens that would put themselves away.

If your new roo is 4 months old he will most likely be sweet to start. Just keep an eye on him as he gets older. I find if a roo is sweet for its first year, it going to be sweet always.


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## Tiempo (May 22, 2008)

pancho said:


> I have an easter egger that lays a blue egg. Just looking at her you couldn't even guess what mix she is. Looks just like a mixed barn yard hen.


Yup, I have 2 EEs, an Ameraucana (buff) and a BLRWxAmeraucana..the eggs are all blue and almost indistinguishable from each other. 

I sold most of my Ameraucanas, I don't care for their personalities. The blues were the first to go, they were nasty (and they were hens!) I told the person I sold them to they were mean, but she didn't believe me I guess...wasn't to long before she got rid of them too.


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## Mulegirl (Oct 6, 2010)

We've got one right now, and he's a bit skittish and very piggy at feeding time. Definitely not aggressive, though.

I'm glad to hear someone else had a bad experience with a Dominique--everything I keep reading about them says that they're pretty laid back, but we had one when I was a kid that was EVIL. I hated that guy, and until he was gone I refused to go out in the back yard without my big stick. I think that was the only time that my parents allowed me to hit an animal with a stick--it was totally self defense.


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