Breeds

Ameraucana vs Easter Egger vs Araucana: Blue-Egg Chickens Compared

Field guide · Updated October 21, 2026 · about 8 min read

Three names get used for hens that lay blue or green eggs; only two are breeds. The Araucana is a rumpless, ear-tufted breed descended from Chilean fowl. The Ameraucana is a tailed, bearded and muffed breed developed in the United States in the 1970s. The Easter Egger, in the Ameraucana Alliance's words, "is not a breed of chicken" but any bird carrying the blue-egg gene that does not meet a breed standard. Below: what the breed clubs, the American Poultry Association (APA), the American Bantam Association (ABA) and extension services say.

Quick comparison

The Araucana: tufts, no tail, Chilean roots

The Araucana comes from Chile and takes its name from the Araucanía region; its Spanish name is Gallina Mapuche (Wikipedia). The Araucana Club of America describes two Mapuche fowl: the rumpless, blue-egg "Collonocas" (kollonca) and the tufted, tailed, brown-egg "Quetros" (ketro). Crossing the two gave the tufted, rumpless Araucana.

Spanish aviculturist Salvador Castelló saw the birds in Chile in 1914. Sources differ on when he presented them: the club says the World Poultry Congress of 1918, while The Livestock Conservancy and Wikipedia give the 1921 congress at The Hague. The Conservancy dates the first North American import to December 15, 1924, at the Pratt Experiment Farm in Morton, Pennsylvania. Early US birds were crossed so heavily that size and shape scattered, but the blue or greenish egg persisted (Oklahoma State).

• APA varieties (1976): Black, Black Breasted Red, Golden Duckwing, Silver Duckwing and White (APA list; The Livestock Conservancy). The ABA lists Black, Black Breasted Red, Blue, Buff, Silver and White bantams (Araucana Club of America).
• Weights: large fowl cockerel 4 lb, pullet 3½ lb; bantam cock 28 oz, hen 26 oz.
• Disqualifications in the APA standard include lack of ear tufts, a comb other than pea, a rudimentary tail and eggs other than blue.
• Temperament: docile, calm, curious and friendly (The Livestock Conservancy).

Why Araucanas are hard to breed

1. The tuft gene is lethal. The Araucana Club of America says the tuft gene (Et) is dominant with incomplete dominance. Tufted chicks often die in the shell between days 17 and 19 of incubation, and post-hatch losses are much higher than in clean-faced chicks.
2. Hatch rates are low. Breeders report successful hatches of 25–55% for tufted, rumpless birds, against about 90% for most breeds, according to the club.
3. Rumplessness is not lethal but has costs. The rumpless gene (Rp) is dominant. Rumpless birds lack the last two back vertebrae and the oil gland, so they cannot waterproof their feathers, and roosters can have trouble mating.
4. Purity is hard to judge. The Livestock Conservancy lists the Araucana as Critical. Non-blue layers were crossed in to raise production, and because tufts, rumplessness and blue eggs are all dominant, purebreds are hard to tell from blue-egg hybrids.

The Ameraucana: an American breed without the lethal genes

Wikipedia describes the Ameraucana as developed in the US in the 1970s to keep the Araucana's blue-egg gene without the lethal alleles behind tufts and rumplessness. Richard Orr's early history of the breed, published by the Ameraucana Alliance, gives the dates:

1. 1930s on: bearded, muffed, tailed blue-egg birds descended from southern Chilean imports were shown in the US as "Araucanas."
2. 1976: the APA adopted an Araucana standard requiring tufted, rumpless birds, disqualifying the bearded, tailed type.
3. 1977: California breeder Don Cable saw Mike Gilbert's wheaten bantam in the Poultry Press; the two began trading birds and planning a club.
4. 1978–1979: the club formed with eleven charter members, then voted on the standard, including slate shanks and the name "Ameraucana."
5. May 1980: the ABA accepted the Ameraucana bantam. In 1983 the ABA accepted eight varieties.
6. 1984: the APA accepted the breed in the same eight varieties, bantam and large fowl, and the club became the Ameraucana Breeders Club.
7. 2015: the club split and was reorganized as the Ameraucana Alliance.

Dates are from the Ameraucana Alliance. The APA's own list shows the eight original varieties plus Self Blue, and Oklahoma State lists seven, without Buff; check a current standard before showing.

The standard calls for a pea comb, small earlobes, small or preferably absent wattles and a full beard and muffs; ear tufts or a missing beard and muffs disqualify. Large fowl weigh 6½ lb (cock) and 5½ lb (hen); bantams 30 oz and 26 oz. Oklahoma State calls the breed "docile and sweet," with "a formidable constitution," fair laying of about three blue eggs a week, and hens that "aren't especially broody."

The Easter Egger: a blue-egg crossbred

The Ameraucana Alliance defines an Easter Egger as any chicken with the blue-egg gene that does not meet a breed description, or does not breed true at least 50% of the time. Oklahoma State says Easter Eggers lay blue and green eggs but follow no breed standard; the APA's accepted-breeds list does not include them.

Labels in print are not consistent. A 2009 University of Georgia Extension sheet calls Easter Eggers "the most common variety" of the Ameraucana, while noting they are usually mixed and "may lay blue, green or other colored eggs." A University of Maine bulletin describes the Ameraucana as "sometimes called the Easter Egg chicken," with eggs in shades of brown, green and blue, while listing the Easter Egger separately. The Alliance, by contrast, says many hatchery chicks sold as Araucanas or Ameraucanas are crossbred Easter Eggers that meet neither standard.

Where the blue comes from

• One dominant gene. Wang and colleagues (2013, PLoS Genetics) report that blue shell color, traditionally called oocyan (O) since Punnett's 1933 work on Araucanas, is autosomal dominant, and that hens with two copies lay darker blue eggs than hens with one.
• The mutation. An insertion of the retrovirus EAV-HP near the gene SLCO1B3 on chromosome 1; two Chinese blue-egg breeds carry a separate insertion.
• Linked to the pea comb. The same paper describes the blue-egg locus as closely linked to the pea-comb gene.
• Blue through the shell. The Araucana Club of America notes that an Araucana egg is as blue inside as outside, and that crossing blue- and brown-shell genes gives olive, dull green or pink eggs, hence the range of Easter Egger and "olive egger" shells. Compare shades in the egg color chart.

Which bird do you have? A checklist

1. Look at the rear. No tail points to an Araucana; a tail rules out the US Araucana.
2. Look at the face. Ear tufts mean Araucana; beard and muffs without tufts mean Ameraucana.
3. Check comb and legs. Both breeds have a pea comb, so any other comb rules out both standards; Ameraucanas have slate-blue shanks.
4. Check the egg. Both standards call for blue; green, olive or pinkish eggs point to a crossbred.
5. Check the variety. A bird that fits no breed description, or does not breed true, is an Easter Egger.
6. Ask about the breeding. The Ameraucana Alliance advises checking references before ordering, and notes that blue eggs are not lower in cholesterol.

Compare other breeds in the breed directory, look up terms such as pea comb and bantam in the glossary, or estimate output with the egg production calculator.