Aracauna hens, anyone have any experience of them?

[Honey08]

We always rescue ex-battery hens, and are about to get some more in a couple of weeks. The rescue have offered us some aracaunas this time, which have been barn hens rather than the usual red ones. They only send them to people who have had hens for a few years, but I think this is mostly as they are popular. I googled them and got some very strange pics and it often mentioned blue eggs, yet it seems strange that commercial barn hens would be wanted if they laid blue eggs, you'd think the public wouldn't want them..

Any info on them would be welcome.

 

[s4sugar]

Most likely legbar hybrids which descend from aracaunas. I don't know of any commercial aracaunas but legbar eggs do have a following. They are less prolific egg producers than standard hybrid layers but my cream legbars are good winter layers - each laying three eggs a week when the brown girls stop for their winter break. My legbar girls & a blue egg among the browns.

 

[Honey08]

Thanks, They're pure white, from the photos I've seen of them in previous rescues (once the feather grows back post rescue), and the lady at the rescue says aracaunas??

 

[s4sugar]

Aracaunas do come in white but unless these are birds kept to produce hybrid chicks I don't know of any commercial flocks. There are white birds in some hybrid legbar flocks.
I once got a frizzle feathered hen amongst brown ex batts ( as well as a hermaphrodite )

 

[jrp204]

There is a market for commercial blue eggs, Clarence Court sell them in Sainsburys, they get a premium but this is somewhat minimal since the hens are more expensive and they don't lay as many eggs as a commercial hybrid.

 

[Clodagh]

Aracaunas are lovely, they have crests and are funny looking chooks. They are mad as a box of frogs though! OMG a HUMAN... I have NEVER seen a HUMAN before type behaviour.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I think Aracauna's produce lovely light blue eggs; if you want the olive eggs, I think you have to cross them with something like a Maran........

Lovely little hens, I could quite fancy them myself; whereabouts is your hen rescue place OP?

 

[jrp204]

You can cross either a Cream Legbar or Aracana with a Maran to get olive eggs.

 

[Honey08]

The rescue is in Lancashire. Will post some photos when they come (couple of weeks), see what your verdict is. Not really bothered what they are, we are just suckers for rescuing them. Just wondering what our neighbours will think if the eggs suddenly turn blue (they all buy the eggs..)!

 

[jrp204]

Put a not in the box saying they are hens eggs, we often put blue eggs in but often people won't take them as they think they are duck eggs.

 

[lachlanandmarcus]

I had an araucuna who laid blue eggs and after she died I had an araucuna x light Sussex and that also laid the blue eggs. I loved the breed, I called the first one Henny Penny as she was always scuttling round telling me the sky was falling in. She was quite a good layer.m

NB watch out for stoats, I thought Henny had gone off lay until I found Mr Stoats stash of 30 blue eggs, none of the brown ones, all the blue ones, even caught him rolling one away one day....:-o) he obviously likes the blue ones maybe they look like wild birds eggs or he thinks they are duck eggs which he probably knows have a rich taste! Cheeky blighter!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I have rumpless tufted araucana-the original blue egg layers they are hardy and excellent layers, very bossy to other chickens (have a fair amount of game fowl in them these days) and are idiots. start breeding them next year.

 

[Clodagh]

MofC... I would love some of those, I think they are stunning. I may be pestering you come the spring!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I am in Scotland but will hopefully be breeding silver and gold duckwing if you can get them down there. I like them more than I thought I would-very hardy, very feisty and very reliable layers

 

[Clodagh]

Well thats not very convenient! Perhaps you may have some eggs spare when you hatched all you need... ;-)

 

[cremedemonthe]

I have Aracaunas x Old Cotswold Legbar so have retained the light blue egg, nice looking hen too, good layers, mine lay everyday.

 

[Honey08]

Oh that's a bit worrying about the stoat. We had a stoat attack last year, killing one of the ex-batts. He is still lurking, I believe, although the cats know where he lives!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Well thats not very convenient! Perhaps you may have some eggs spare when you hatched all you need... ;-)

everything is possible! will see how fertility is-its meant to be lower with the rumpless and if you want only tufted it will decrease further. If you aren't bothered about showing, tuftless tufted(! lol) should be easy enough.

 

[Clodagh]

But I like the tufts! Without would be fine though, I just think they look amazing, mad but amazing!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

the trouble with tufts is that it involves a lethal gene-so if they are homozygous for tufts they die in the shell. so tufted to tufted will guarantee tufted (bearing in mind that only a small percentage develop even-sized tufts) but you'll lose some before hatching. tufted to non-tufted will give some tufted and some not-but no dead in shell.

they are amazing looking-my cockerel is stunning IMO and I have some very good stock.They aren't huge-I wouldn't put them in with large large fowl, saying that, even the littler pullets I have are more than capable of seeing off my adult hens. They are very popular in Europe and the US but very rare in the UK atm.

 

[Clodagh]

Isn't the rumpless gene lethal as well? If so they exist against all the odds!

 

[MotherOfChickens]

Isn't the rumpless gene lethal as well? If so they exist against all the odds!

no, that one isn't-it is dominant though and there are also modifiers, so crossing a rumpless with a British araucana might give you a rumpless bird with odd tufty bits!

 

[luckyhens]

Thanks, They're pure white, from the photos I've seen of them in previous rescues (once the feather grows back post rescue), and the lady at the rescue says aracaunas??

Hi!! The farmer who we rescued them from told ourselves they where Aracaunas so we can only repeat what he says and not surmise what they may be. We will be rescuing more in the new year but gagain we will only rehome to experienced rescue hen keepers and not too people who want them just because they are pretty looking hens that lay blue eggs!!

 

[luckyhens]

The hens where from our rescue center in Wigan but will only be rehomed to people who have had experience with ex batts

 

[Honey08]

Hello Lucky hens! I was just singing your praises on another thead when I noticed this.

We got seven white hens from you a couple of weeks ago. They aren't aracaunas (doesn't matter what they are, I was just interested as I'd not heard of them before), but they're lovely little things, they have settled in really well and are laying huge white eggs.

 

[luckyhens]

Thank you x The white are leghorns , very rare to rescue white girls in cages .Mine are rather mucky at the moment lol but loving their freedom and they do lay lovely white eggs. We are rescuing some more on Dec 16th xx

 

[RutlandH2O]

I've got two white Aracauna hybrids, one of which is tufted. They live with two common red hybrids (Warrens, I think). I have been getting 4 eggs, two blues and two browns, every single day for months (a bit of a worry for their longevity). The breeder, who lives in the next village, calls the Aracauna crosses Geenos. They are not the prettiest hens, but I needed to replace an old hen I lost, which left one of the reds as a singleton. So I bought another red and the two whites. The eggs are so lovely...what I really like about them is the fact that when you crack open the blue eggs, the inside of the egg is blue, as well. The brown eggs are only brown on the outside, being white inside. I've been giving away loads of eggs to friends, and when they open the boxes, they just wax poetic over the blue ones! They aren't nearly the size of a duck egg.