Description
The large fowl blue Ameracuana chicken is one of several color varieties of Ameraucanas the American Poultry Association recognizes. Cackle Hatchery® started offering blue Ameraucana day-old chicks in 2015. They are not the same as Easter Egger™. Nor are they Araucana. They are the real deal! We have a limited supply of this rare variety, created by Master Breeder John W. Blehm.
For a list of the best blue egg layers visit Cackle Hatchery’s Best Blue Egg Layers Blog.
Blue chickens are based on blacks, but with the black feathers diluted to blue by the blue gene (Bl). Ideally each feather has black lacing. The plumage is a blue/gray color, but the eggs are true blue. A small percentage may be light green.
Blue chickens do not breed true and our blue to blue matings produce approximately 50% blue chicks, 25% black chicks and 25% splash chicks. We will send as many blues as we can in your order, but please also expect some black and splash Ameraucana chicks in your order.
Because our sexers have a hard time determining the gender of this breed, their vent sexing is only about 80% accurate. That is well below the normal average of 90% accuracy for other breeds. Please keep this in mind when ordering females.
Also to be noted is that this breed has an inherent genetic beak issue. One out of 100 chicks may develop scissor beak/cross beak of greater or lesser severity. This condition is best described as the top and bottom beak not aligning. And it normally gets worse as the chick grows. Numerous articles about cross beak are also on the internet. You can find more information about this issue on our Cackle Hatchery blog.
Be ready to order your blue Ameraucana chicks as early as late November. You can request delivery any time from early February through early August.
Availability
Available Low Availability Unavailable
hopeloveschickens –
Ordered 3 received 4, them along with the 15 other large birds I ordered are all happy and eating. Would be five stars but one thing to note is that one the birds came with crossbeak, not sure if this is due to genetics (i know this is a common defect in easter eggers) or incubation factor. But be aware your purchase may contain one. I saw other customers got refunds on this defect, I didn’t call for a refund personally because she was an extra, we will see how bad this defect and make decisions about her life from there.
kathrynjallenesq –
I ordered three, received four. Unfortunately, one died within hours of arrival. One turned out to have a severe cross beak. The other two are gorgeous, one a dark blue and one more of a medium color perfect slate colored legs nice lacing on the feathers no leakage. The Crossbeak has some dark, solid leakage, very minor. All three are very friendly and gentle and have great personalities the two perfect ones have gorgeous, muffs, and beards, I reported the cross speak to cackle and they gave me a refund for the one . I joined a cross beak group on Facebook, and have learned of others having blue Ameraucanas with cross beaks. This is unfortunate because this breed and color is hard to find. Overall, I would recommend, but expect to have some that are imperfect, or possibly with a cross beak. For the two that are perfect I would give five stars. Three stars due to the cross beak.
meagalina –
I had ordered straight run blue Ameraucanas from Cackle in 2020 and out of 12 ended up with mostly very attractive and productive birds and 1 especially stunning rooster. The girls laid amazing Tiffany blue eggs! I lost many to predators so i ordered more… This is my experience with the Blue Ameraucana females I got 8/2022. There are 5 and they are very different looking. A very poor breed standard. They lay blue green and pale blue eggs at alarmingly slow rates. Yes they are still pretty chickens and eggs but NOWHERE NEAR the quality of the ones I ordered in 2020. I think Cackle needs to refresh their genetics. It’s so disappointing because the first batch were SO great, I’m so sad they were killed:(((( I hope if Cackle improves their genetics they’ll mention it in the description and I’d like to get more one day.
Rachel Manciocchi –
One chick arrived with problems I had to nurse him for a few weeks, I didn’t think she would make it but she did. Fast forward 7 months, 3 of the 4 girls have crop issues. They are so full they weigh them down. They do not empty at night. I give them grit and help massage the crop. Makes me think they have issues with there breed. Makes me upset, don’t see them living to long.
saramiera –
I received 2 blue Americanas in my order of 25 chicks!! They are absolutely gorgeous!!! Evan as chicks their plumage was so beautiful!! They are a beautiful slate gray color. Each feather is slightly darker around the edge so they almost look laced!! They are slightly more flighty than my Easter eggers, splash Americanas, and black Americanas. However they are sweet, friendly, beautiful, and gentle towards the other hens. They are the favorites of my Easter Egger rooster. He takes good care of them and makes sure they get their share of the treats. Overall they are great hens, not as cuddly as the other varieties of Americanas but still friendly and sweet!! I would definitely recommend this breed and will probably add some to my spring order.
hillarybrooke4280 –
We ordered 3 pullets, we received 4 (not sure on sex yet as we’ve only had them a week). These are by far the CUTEST chicks we’ve ever had. Their cheeks look like cotton balls, actually the whole chick looks like multiple cotton balls stuck together. They are so sweet and seem fairly healthy, two are a bit sluggish but I’m supplementing and hoping.
Ashley Holzheimer –
Of the 15 I ordered I received 1 extra of each breed except ym blue ameraucanas. One passed away the second day at home and one we discovered last week is cross beaked, and I fear she will not make it. If only chicken orthodontics were a thing…
The others are all doing okay, but as a new chicken mom I am really worried about my little cross beak. She is not gaining weight as quickly as the others.
audra oldham –
These birds wow factor for any flock. Just gorgeous. They can be a bit flighty but I find that it’s more like you get a few nuts in the bunch and the rest are cool. Choose the rooster you keep wisely for this reason. I do highly recommend these birds from my experience. They do well on less feed but need range. They are also good in mixed flocks. Buy early in the year to have maturity by late spring. Getting late in the year means they mature in winter and may delay laying. I have noticed most of the Blue egg layers are not top notch winter layers. But excel in warmer weather.
RA –
I’m a first time chicken-keeper and I’m very pleased with the chicks I purchased from Cackle. I ordered 4 Blue Ameraucanas (received 5), 5 Rhode Island Reds (received 6), 3 Black Jersey Giants (received 3), so I received a total of 14 chicks although I only ordered 12. They hatched on March 29th and all arrived healthy, active, and peeping at my post office on March 31st. I ordered 12 female chicks hoping that, (given sexing accuracy and so much that can go wrong with baby chicks), I’d still have at least 6 to 8 females when they grew up. 5 months later, I still have all 14 of my chickens and all are female.
I live in a very rural area with a lot of hawks, coyotes, foxes, etc. and wanted chickens that would be good foragers (to eat insects, especially ticks, in my yard), and that would be predator savvy (so they would be more alert to predators while free-ranging and eating ticks in my yard), and of course I ordered these because of their blue eggs. So far these chickens have proven to be both good foragers, and alert to predators.
My blue ameraucana plumage colors vary somewhat, but I think they are all blue (as opposed to black/splash). One is a much lighter heather gray, and one is a much darker charcoal gray, and the other three are all about the same medium shade of bluish gray. Their cheek poofs and beards are really cute, and none of my five blue ameraucanas have shown any sign of scissor beak. (The only problem I have had with any of my blue ameraucanas is one who developed sour crop. Her crop is slightly pendulous. She is still skinnier that the others from having been sick, but since the sour crop cleared up, I hope she will fill out and catch up to the others.)
My first blue ameraucana pullet to lay laid her first pale blue egg at 20 weeks and 3 days, and has laid 6 total eggs in her first 8 days of laying. When I reached out to Cackle for average ages of laying, they told me that the blue ameraucanas should start laying between 6 and 9 months of age, so I was delighted that one began laying pale blue eggs before she was five months old. Another started squatting a few days ago, and her pelvic bones are nearly three fingers apart, so I hope she will begin laying soon, too.
Of the three types of chickens I ordered, the blue ameraucanas started out being much flightier than others. However, I have been luring/bribing them with small pinches of scratch, and while they don’t really like being picked up, they will let me pick them up, and tolerate being petted in exchange for scratch. They also sound different than the other two types. (They make more of a whiny screeching/honking noise than the squawky chicken noises that the RIRs and BJGs make). The largest, lightest gray ameraucana seems to be at the top of the pecking order, and the one who has been laying also seems to be higher up in the pecking order. Overall, I’m very pleased with them. They are active and have been mostly healthy and lay blue eggs! I had hoped to end up with a cockerel, given the lower sexing accuracy, but plan to order a blue ameraucana cockerel with my Cackle next order.
DB –
Beautiful birds
I ordered 6 blue Ameraucana hens last June along with 24 other chicks. All came healthy and active. They have developed into beautiful blues. Their color is excellent with beautiful full cheeks. They have the typical personality for this breed and lay beautiful blue eggs. Very happy with them.
Amanda –
Beautiful Healthy Fun Chickens
We ordered 5 female and 1 male Ameraucana (along with other breeds). We ended up with 4 female and 2 male. They do say the sexing is about 80% so can’t say we weren’t warned and agreed to the chance when purchasing. We had 1 black male, 1 blue male, 3 blue female and 1 splash female. The different colors are so fun. The chicks arrived healthy and have all grown well at around 6 months old now. They are very pretty. Most are friendly due to the time we have spent with them and they will follow us around some as well as come for treats (mealworms and appropriate food scraps).
Bill in Florida –
Quality healthy chicks
I received my mixed (34) chick order 8 months ago. They were very healthy. I’m very pleased with Cackle Hatchery’s chicks. The Blue Ameracauns are fabulous. Very pretty and they have nice eggs. I will definitely get more.
Bryan –
Blue ameraucanas
Very friendly yet true they won’t you get within touching distance. They’re comfortable with the family but choose they’re distance. We have 7 of the 8 we ordered. One lacey light grey hen, a splash hen, three smokey grey hen two black twin roosters. The roosters have just started to crow and they are beautiful. The hen have yet to lay and the winter has fallen so no blue eggs till next year. I am so proud of my blues. The girls love them too. Once in awhile they catch one and carry it around.
Patty –
Ameraucanas
I received 3 Ameraucana. Very pretty hens except one ended up with severe scissor beak. I have to feed her by hand since she can’t pick up her food very well.
Janie –
Blue Americana thoughts
These birds are beautiful I love to just watch them the only thing I can say that I wish they were friendlier they are very flighty but on the good side of that they are good preditor proof as they run for cover when they startle which if you live in the country like us that is a good thing with so many owls and hawks around us. We have not lost a bird yet of course at night they get locked in there shelter and out during the day to free range. They are just so pretty.
Maureen –
Update to above review
Of the 10 Ameraucana chicks we received one turned out to be a rooster. We only actually ordered 9 chicks so the extra we got was the rooster. The chicks were hatched 7/29/19. (Today is 11/5/19). So far the chickens have not layed any eggs. Hopefully soon. The color of the blues that we ordered look more like the splash which from the description on Cackle that can happen. Our chickens and even the rooster are pretty flighty- hoping that changes after they start laying. Overall we are satisfied.
Patti Dubler –
You sent the wrong chickens, but would not refund the total amount of the difference.
I had originally ordered ameraucana chickens, but you sent blue ameraucanas. They seem different (I’ve only had EE’s for 30 yrs). They are 5 1/2 mos. now & haven’t gotten in the nests at all yet, or sat on either roosting poles. They haven’t bonded with me like my past set of chickens & I’m actually a bit worried about all these differences. I’m hoping they start laying soon & will feel the need to jump into the nests. The extra one you sent turned out to be a rooster, so I’ll have to just give it away, even though it’s the prettiest one!
Jenny –
Beautiful Healthy Chicks
Ordered six Blue Americauna female chicks. All arrived healthy. They’re now 4 months old & gorgeous pullets … three are blue & three are black. Hoping to get some beautiful blue eggs soon!
Annalyst –
Beautiful Chickens but….
I ordered 3 blue ameraucanas and so far 1 is now laying, but the one issue I had is one of the ameraucanas has a cross-beak or scissor beak as they are called. I didn’t notice it until she was around a month old and it was only slightly crossed however as time went by it got much worse. I grind her food up and mix with water and usually feed her three times a day. I have my doubts she will lay any eggs but only time will tell.
Nanci –
Chicks arrived very healthy
I ordered 3 female Americana’s and 3 female French Marans. They threw in an extra of each breed which was very nice but they were both roosters. I called to see what they could do and they told me they would do nothing for me. The person I talked to said that because they gave me extras they would do nothing. What’s the point of giving me extras if they’re roosters.
Maureen –
Healthy Happy Chicks
Rec’d 10 chicks one week ago today in the mail two days after hatching. Three Black, three Blue and three Splash Ameraucana Chicks. They are really energetic and appear to be very healthy babies. One of the blacks is hoping on the roost we placed in the brooder already. So cute. Thanks Cackle for your great service and care of the shipped chicks. This is the third time ordering from Cackle and have never been dissatisfied.
Sonia @ Bella Haga Farms –
Beautiful!
I originally ordered Lavender Ameraucanas but accepted Blue Ameraucanas and FBCMs since the Lavender weren’t available. I threw that out there to say the customer service was excellent. One of the three Blues turned out to be a rooster and all three are gorgeous! The two hens lay beautiful blue eggs.
SteveWin –
Happy little chicks!
My chicks arrived yesterday at 7:53 am – I got a call from the post office at 7:05, he said that if I got there before the service counter opened, I could just come around to the dock in back. Less than 48 hours in transit – awesome! They came out of the box alert and energetic, they had no trouble finding and taking the food and water. One thing I did which I haven’t seen anyone suggest, was to take a cup of their feed and crush it under a rolling pin. This reduced the particle size to about 1/4 of the supplied chickens crumble size. I put this in a low dish next to their main feeder with regular crumbles, they seemed to prefer the smaller pieces. I did sugar their water for the first two hours. I ordered six chicks – I’m sure that two are black and three are blue, and I think the last is a splash. They’re all adorable, and they already have their own personalities! I’m handling them often – I want them to learn to accept and trust me handling them, to facilitate care in the future. The splash? fell asleep in my hand! Anyway, great job.. wonderful chicks.. I’ll be back for some Salmon Favs soon!
Chevalier –
Chick Delivery Day
We just picked up Blue Ameraucana and Easter Egger chicks. They all came out of box bright eyes and full of energy. The chicks are runners get around from warm sugar water to the feed. All alive and well. Thank you Cackle Hatchery.