Author: Ann

My bantam Araucana layers continue to impress me. The most nutritious part of the egg is the yolk. They are little golden nuggets of dense protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals. My bantams lay eggs with yolks that are probably 75-80% of the size of the yolks in my large fowl Araucana. The photo below is of today’s egg from my bantam Araucana pullet ‘Suzy-Q’, wing band #653. She laid her first egg this week, which was HUGE. I thought it must be a double yolker, it was that large. But when I cracked it into a bowl for my morning’s scrambled eggs. there was only one yolk. I hope I have not jinxed her production ability by bragging about those big beautiful eggs she is laying. I picked up this egg from her this morning. Another whopper at 1.73 oz! Pretty darn good for a 28-ounce pullet.

Suzy-Q had 4 total shows in 2024 and was Best of Variety three times and Reserve of Variety once. As of today, she is in the breeding pens and hopefully will contribute to my recessive whites for exhibition at the Fall 2025 shows. <knock-on-wood>

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So many people want pix of egg color. It seems there are always a few people each year who are new to the breed and think everything is all about egg color and that they will focus on just that one thing and think they can breed a Robin’s egg blue Araucana egg and corner the market on beautifully colored eggs. I may have even been guilty of that in the past myself. It won’t happen. But good luck in your pursuit. First, it has been my experience over the last few decades that an Araucana egg, cleared of all the genetic imperfections is more of a teal color than ‘blue’. So expect more of a pale turquoise color, just like the older literature states. The depth of color in eggs is very much affected by where in their laying cycle a hen is. Those first few eggs in each laying cycle will have the deepest color, gradually fading over time. It is important to remember that the antioxidant, biliverdin, which is laid down in the egg to color it is important to the hen’s own health. Excess is put in the eggs, less excess equals paler egg color. Vigor, nutrient levels, etc., affect egg color. These are just some of the variables affecting it other than genetics. I am happy with the egg color in my birds. Over the years it has become more and more consistent. The photo is from my own flock of what I picked up yesterday. These are from both, bantam and large fowl, 12 different females, all are several months into their current laying cycle. I am happy with the egg color on my birds but it is just one trait I breed for. And please remember that blue eggs don’t photograph true to color. Gold light (sunshine, light bulbs) makes them look more greenish. More important to me are type, vigor, fertility, feather color and quality, etc. So please don’t ask for photos of egg color. I, and no one I know of have birds that lay Robin blue eggs, except for actual Robins of course. Happy Valentine’s Day!

I am receiving a lot of requests for hatching eggs right now and for started chicks but it is a bit early in the year and I am NOT accepting any deposits at this time. I have just started setting eggs, and am working on establishing fertility. I have one bantam pen right now that is running at about 100% fertility and I am hatching chicks out of that pen but culling hard for any that do not meet my specific goals for that pen.

It is important to understand that I do NOT raise birds just to sell. Anything I may have available for sale are simply birds that may be superior in many ways but do not make a second or third or fourth cut to go into my breeding or show pens. I will have some started chicks available this year, but don’t get picky about colors, or details or you will miss out. I won’t have that many. If you sign up for my blog I will notify you HERE when I have something for sale. Plan on having your chicks shipped, this includes Express Mail and shipping box expenses. Prices on started chicks begin at $35 each and go up from there. I can ship up to 3 per box and usually sell them in twos or threes.

All of my birds are excellent hardy stock, bred to the Standard and bred for vigor, correct breed type, and disease resistance over the last 20+ years. I have a closed flock. Both my bantams and my large fowl are excellent layers. Check back here for more details at a later time. I need to update the information on my website but that will probably take a few more weeks to get to. Thank you if you have read this far. Have a great day!

Today I realized how much I have been neglecting my webpage! That has to change and it will, starting now. My excuse is that it is easier to throw pictures or text up on Facebook. But not THAT much easier. So watch for photos and info here as the 2025 Breeding and Show Season ramps up. I only had two shows this year (both double shows). Watch for more photos and information in the next day or two. And visit my SkyBlueEgg Facebook page if you get a chance. Below are highlights of my wins at our ABEC National last weekend (December 7th at Baton Rouge, Lousiana).

SkyBlueEgg is the Breeder/Exhibitor of the 2024 ABEC National Champion Bantam Araucana – Bantam, with a black Araucana Hen: The 2024 ABEC National Champion AOV Bantam Araucana with a Gold Araucana Cockerel: Also the 2024 ABEC Reserve National Champion Large Fowl Araucana with a BB Red pullet: and 2024 ABEC Reserve National Champion Large Fowl AOV Araucana with a Blue pullet. Photos to come soon.

I have been shipping hatching eggs for a couple of weeks now. Before I started shipping I had to establish fertility in each pen. Acceptable levels in each pen increased rapidly with each candling. I started shipping when I got to 90%. This is the first set of chicks to hatch from those fertility checks and are from a pen with a tufted Blue Paint cockerel over some non-tufted black pullets. I am so pleased with the first hatch from this cross. 4 eggs fertile, 4 chicks that hatched easily with no assistance. 2 double tufted, 2 non-tufted, all rumpless except the tufted black chick that has a knub.  Color ratio is exactly what I would expect from this cross. 1 Black, 1 Blue, 1 Paint, and 1 White. If you have any eggs in your incubator right now that are from me you have some chicks out of this pen. I wish you all luck. The first hatch is very promising.

This is ‘Peanutbutter’. Some of you have already seen her on my Facebook page. I just love this pullet! Mostly I love her Araucana ‘type’. And those balanced pinwheel tufts are to die for! But I am bragging. And, I shouldn’t be – her tufts are largely a gift of chance and this unusual color was not planned – it just happened. But I couldn’t be happier with her. I do believe she is one of a kind. My little ‘Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup’ pullet. 🙂

I am so sorry I have no posted here in a while – there has just been an awful lot going on – – and we won’t talk about the elephant in the room other than ‘Stay Home – Stay Safe’ as I hope you all are.

I am going to start shipping hatching eggs next week <knock on wood> The hens must have decided Easter was the magic time to really kick into gear. I have been hatching eggs all Winter but fertility was a bit hit and miss depending on who was just starting to lay and who was shutting down for a molt. Today’s eggs candled at 90% fertility and that is excellent in anyone’s book. First shipments go out next week and of course they will be shipped in the order the deposits were received. In closing here is a pretty pen of Black Araucana pullets (breeders) that are right at point of lay. I am looking forward to seeing what they produce. I promise to not take so long to write next time. Look for more from me soon and of course – lots of pix! Thank you for reading.

Three years ago, the officers of the Araucana Breeders & Exhibitors Club decided to make the variety Cuckoo a club project for APA approval of a 6th variety. There has been a lot of water under the bridge since then – club officers have changed a bit – but I know many breeders are still working on this variety. A quick read of the article below published in ABEC’s one and only newsletter will shed some light on the reasons we chose cuckoo. Plus, it is REAL pretty on an Araucana! 🙂 I bring this subject up because I am wondering how many of you have cuckoo birds in your flocks? How many would like to work with cuckoo. If you already have blacks – cuckoo would be easy to branch out into. I periodically have cuckoo cockerels for sale in my started chick offerings – that would be the fastest and easiest way for someone to get started with this variety. Let me know if you would like to help with this project.

We are all currently receiving a healthy dose of discounted Christmas offers. Included in this are a slew of hatchery emails promoting their chick sales from breeds that they think will sell well next year. I received one yesterday from McMurray Hatchery wherein they listed their top 6 breeds based on sales (and they have hundreds of breeds/varieties). Three of their top six ‘breeds’ are blue egg layers. These are McMurray’s ‘Whiting’ blue, and McMurray’s version of the Ameraucana and the Creme Legbar. All of these blue egg laying lines that they sell are poor imitations of the original blue egg layer – the Araucana.

These days it seems everyone wants to jump on the blue egg bandwagon, but most don’t want to put the time and the effort into working with the original – the Araucana. A few steps down from the hatcheries are a large group of private individuals selling either chicks or hatching eggs that they say (when they are at their most honest) are ‘entry level’ Araucana. I am not sure what that means but it sounds like they are selling a headache to me.

The original Araucana, and the same bird that set the poultry world on fire over 100 years ago, was the blue egg laying chickens of Dr. Reuben Bustos’ Araucana flock. He created them through years of selective breeding. Most new breeds are created from either existing land races, or by mixing other breeds together. Dr. Bustos combined the land race birds in his area to create a rumpless, blue egg laying, double tufted bird. That is the original Araucana and will always be the original Araucana.

At the top of this entry is a photo of the page from the National Geographic Magazine published in April 1927. This issue introduced the world to the Araucana Chicken. Pictured are two white females and a white male with Mahogany leakage in his wing. The true Araucana have not changed much from the original in the NatGeo rendition. They are a medium sized, blue egg laying bird with evenly balanced tufts, medium feather, wing carriage above the lower thigh, with a nice full breast, not too heavy in the hackle, and a nice slope to the back. The artist did a pretty good job recreating Dr. Bustos’ ‘Collonca de Artes’.

I have spent the last couple of hours trying to get hens that just want to lay an egg to stand for a photo. I give up. One more flat backed, squatty picture and I will scream. 🙁

I did get a good photo of my third place white bird overall from the Minden show. Below is Shine, he has just turned a year-old. His mother/grandmother, ‘Dove’ was Best of Breed. My white pullet was Reserve of Breed.

This was Shine’s first and only show. He is a breeder not a show bird. I just brought him to see how he looked in a show pen and share with other breeders that showed up. He is brassy, has a poor comb and his right tuft was damaged in the breeding pen this year so it’s only half there. Other than that he is a 6 pound mass of muscle and there is not much I don’t just love about him. His chicks are beautiful, correct, BIG, and it’s looking like the comb and brassiness issue is much improved in the next generation. Now if I could just breed a good solid black male Araucana that is built just like this white! 🙂 I would be SOOOO happy.

Below is ‘Boeing’, Reserve of Breed bantam Araucana at APA District Meet, Minden, Louisiana yesterday. This is not the best photo of her but it includes the whopping 1.8 oz egg she laid half way through the show. It caused a bit of a stir from passersby and it is a little larger than what she usually lays (about 1.5 oz). As one of the Silkie Breeders said “I can not believe the big egg came out of that tiny hen”. Boeing played Araucana goodwill ambassador and a number of people handled her and commented on her muscling (she weighs 26 oz). One of my Black bantam Araucana pullets was Best of Breed.

I just wanted to share this photo of Boeing and her egg since she is retired to the breeding pen next week. She has been laying for 3 months now and I need to get some chicks out of her. She is a Christmas day hatch, so she has a birthday coming up. 🙂

Thanks to Ben Porter for the great job on judging our birds.

The last couple of days have been hectic! Our APA District meet is in Minden, Louisiana tomorrow and I have 10 Araucana entered. Yesterday I washed my three large fowl white entries. What a job! I think I finally have my best hen, Dove, (and the others) clean. It is a bad thing to do but I have been getting her beat lately (Reserve of Breed every time out) because she just was not clean. No judge is going to use a dirty white bird over a good black bird sitting next to it. And as we all know black birds don’t show stains! My bad. 🙁 I just hope they all get a good look at the show tomorrow. I am also taking a Brown Red large fowl cockerel who is coming right out of the breeding pen (he will be bathed). 5 Araucana bantams (3 Blacks, 1 Birchen, and 1 Brown Red). With at least two other Araucana exhibitors attending we should have a really good representation of our breed at the District Meet. Wish us all luck. I will report results here later and include a few pix from the show.

On the subject of show birds I did something weird today. As most of you know I am accepting deposits for Spring hatching egg orders now. Those will begin shipping in April. After 15 years of breeding and exhibiting these birds I am ready for a bit of a slow down on the weekly settings of eggs (yes I do this year-round). Anyway – I had an odd desire to get started on that idea now. So what did I do? I just listed 3 large fowl Araucana hatching eggs on Ebay for shipment on Monday. These are straight out of current exhibition breeding pens! I may not be setting as many eggs this Monday as I usually do. 🙂 Take a look if you get a chance: SkyBlueEgg Araucana Egg Auction

Now it is back to washing birds and getting ready for the show. If anyone has a chance to get to Minden on Saturday look us up. We will have at least 3 ABEC club members present showing Araucana. You may even find a bird or two for sale!

Until next time . . . Thanks you for reading.

Ann