A Guide to Buying Araucanas
(the things I wish someone had told me)
If you're looking for "true" Araucanas, you've probably already discovered that finding them can be a tricky task. Modern Araucanas are a very rare breed. They sport complex genetics which are unpredictable and present a challenge even for experienced poultry people. Show-quality Araucanas are few and far between, which can be discouraging.
Please don't give up!!! The challenge of Araucanas is half the fun; it makes for a most rewarding hobby. There are several Araucana fancier's groups on the internet which are a wealth of knowledge, and the people there will welcome your interest in the breed. You do not have to be an expert poultry person to raise and breed Araucanas, you just have to be willing to learn.
With that said, here are a few pointers on purchasing and hatching Araucanas:
1) Hatching eggs are easiest to get ahold of, due to the fact that they are less expensive and easier to ship than chicks or started birds. The downside to this is that they are often mistreated during shipping. It may take several tries before you get a batch that hatch. Araucana hatching eggs can sometimes be found on www.ebay.com or www.eggbid.com. You can also find a list of Araucana breeders at www.breedcentral.com. Perhaps the best way to locate a reputable breeder is to join the Araucana Club of America (www.araucana.net), which includes with membership a list of Araucana breeders complete with contact information and the types of Araucana they raise.
2) You may also be able to find someone who will ship chicks or started birds. This is a more surefire way to acquire live stock, but the downside is that the seller may pick out all or most of the quality birds for themselves and send you the culls.
3) If you are able to locate a breeder in your area, you may be able to purchase adult birds. However, most breeders are very hesitant or completely unwilling to part with their show quality birds or good breeding stock.
4) No matter whether you start with eggs, chicks, started birds, or adults, the reality is that you're not going to start out with rumpless, tufted birds of correct coloration. If you post an ad looking for "15 show quality golden duckwing araucana chicks" you're not going to get any replies because show quality birds of that coloration simply do not exist in large quantities. This is one of the reasons Araucanas are a challenge.
5) Most people have to start from scratch. They acquire a few araucanas here and a few there, some with good qualities but none perfect, and breed them selectively, often for many generations, to get what they're looking for. As a very simple example, say you are able to buy some birds that are rumpless but have no tufts, and some birds that have tufts but also have tails. If you breed the rumpless/clean-headed birds with the tufted/tailed birds, sooner or later you will end up with rumpless/tufted offspring. You may notice that some pairs produce more rumpless/tufted offspring than others. If you keep breeding them, you will soon have a good selection of rumpless/tufted birds to start the next generation with.
6) It is nice to have recognized color varieties, such as black, white, black-breasted red, silver duckwing, etc., but the likelihood is that you'll probably end up with a lot of birds with feather colors and patterns that are not recognized by the standard of perfection. This does not mean they aren't Araucanas; it just means they aren't the right color. It's something you'll have to work on through selective breeding.
7) Simple color varieties such as black and white are more common than ones like black-breasted red and golden duckwing.
8) In the Araucana, even the "simple" color varieties do not always breed true. With BBR's and Duckwings you will have an even harder time. Golden duckwings, especially, will never breed true. However, you may notice that you get a lot of goldens out of one pair and no goldens out of another pair. It's trial and error!
9) I highly recommend using broody hens when hatching Araucana eggs. Araucana embryos, especially the tufted ones, can be delicate, and a broody hen will almost always turn out better results.
10) When purchasing Araucana eggs or chicks over the internet, ALWAYS insist on seeing pictures of the breeding stock before you buy anything. Most of the time, the "Araucanas" you see for sale are really Easter Eggers, Ameraucanas, or some sort of mixes.
11) Don't expect to get sky blue eggs. Egg color is another thing you'll have to breed selectively for. Although blue or turquoise are considered ideal egg colors, many flocks have a lot of "genetic contamination" that leads to unimpressive egg colors. But eggs should always at least be blueish or greenish, NEVER brown or white. Brown or white eggs imply direct crossbreeding with other breeds.
12) In the United States, Araucanas should NEVER have beards or muffs. In the U.S. and Canada, beards and muffs are disqualifications on Araucanas (other countries, however, may have different standards). The presence of beards/muffs implies that they've been bred with Ameraucanas, Easter Eggers, or other bearded breeds.
13) Tails or partial tails often pop up in Araucanas. They are a disqualification in show, but since the rumpless gene is dominant, tails are pretty easy to get rid of through breeding. If you breed a tailed bird with a rumpless one, the majority of the offspring will probably be rumpless.
14) The tufted gene is a lethal gene, meaning that if a chick receives two copies of the gene, it will die in the shell before hatching. Therefore, it is impossible to hatch only tufted Araucanas, since any living bird has only one copy of the gene. If you mate tufted to tufted, you will get 1/2 tufted, 1/4 clean faced, and 1/4 embryos dead in the shell. If you mate tufted to clean-faced, you will get 1/2 tufted and 1/2 clean-faced, but more living birds. Bottom line: if half of your hatchlings are tufted, consider yourself very lucky.
15) Because the tufted gene is lethal, as described above, it is good to have non-tufted birds in your breeding pen. If you breed only tufted birds, you will not get as many chicks because quite a few will die in the shell before they hatch. If you breed tufted with non-tufted birds, you will get a bigger hatch and still produce tufted offspring.
16) The gene for tufts has "variable penetrance" meaning that the type and degree of tuftedness you see in your tufted birds will vary greatly. Some will have 1 tuft, some will have 2, some will have even tufts and some will have unbalanced tufts. But every tufted bird, no matter how their tufts look, carries the tufted gene. A 1-tufted bird may produce plenty of 2-tufted offspring, and vice versa.
I hope this information is helpful to people who are trying to get started with "true" Modern Araucanas!
