There are blue chicken eggs? Yes. Chickens that carry blue eggs are called Araucana.
Its name derives from the Araucanía region of Chile where it is believed to have originated. There is much conjecture about the early origins of the Araucana in Chile. One theory is that Dutch pirates, led by Oliver van Nordt, used the Gulf of Arauca, in the vicinity of the Bio Bio River, in the region from Talca to Araucana, for about 25 years. The Andes mountain range rose on the east perimeter and the Pacific Ocean lay to the west. The Dutch traded chickens and pigs, from Bali and South East Asia with the Araucanian Indians for other necessary goods. The new poultry interbred with the rumpless indigenous chickens. The Araucanian Indians resisted the invading Spanish in the 16th century. Eventually large Spanish settlements were established and poultry from Southern Spain and Costilia were imported. These in turn, bred with the indigenous/Dutch hybrids.
Araucanas are active and alert, they love to forage and have quite an independent nature. They come in large (males 6-7 lb., females 5 -6 lb.) and bantam size (30-40 oz. for males and 28-30 oz. for females) Araucanas are classified as a light soft feather breed.
The legs are willow to olive or slate with 4 toes only on each foot and no leg feathering. It has a compact pea comb, a red face and dark orange eyes and no wattles with small earlobes obscured by the muff or tufts. The tufts are bunches of 5-20 feathers growing from a fleshy pad beneath the ear. The tuft may be tear drop shape, horizontal or backswept. In the rumpless bird the parson’s nose, from which the tail feathers would normally grow is completely absent. The muff gives the bird the appearance of a little bewhiskered bearded man! It consists of a group of small feathers starting under each eye and meeting on the throat, under the beak.
Araucana it is a great addition to any hen house.
An Araucana egg.
An Araucana egg with brown eggs for comparison.
