Description Cackle Hatchery® has been breeding the lavender Ameraucana chicken since 2015. It is one of the most popular and sought after Ameraucana varieties. Yet the American Poultry Association does not recognize lavender as an Ameraucana color variety. The large fowl lavender Ameraucana chicken was create by Master Breeder John W Blehm in 2005. Another term for the color lavender is self blue. The blue (Bl) color variety looks similar to lavender. But it does not breed true. The lavender gene (LAV) does breed true. A lavender chicken bred to a lavender chicken will produce only lavender chicks. However, the lavender variety has an associated feather quality issue. Often it causes frayed or tattered tails, especially on males. For a list of the best blue egg layers visit Cackle Hatchery’s Best Blue Egg Layers Blog. NOTE: Our sexers have a hard time determining the gender of the Ameraucana breed. As a result, their vent sexing on this breed averages about 80% accurate. The normal average is 90% accuracy for most other breeds. Please keep this in mind when ordering females. As a breed, the Ameraucana has an inherent genetic beak issue. One out of 100 chicks may develop scissor beak/cross beak of varying degrees of severity. Scissor beak occurs when the top and bottom beak fail to align. It typically gets worse as the chick grows. Numerous articles on the internet provide more information on this subject. You can find more information about this issue on our Cackle Hatchery blog. “The shredder gene in lavender chickens causes the feathers to split and the barbs to detach, resulting in rough looking feather development,” To learn more about please see our Shredder Gene blog. Our lavender Ameraucanas are in limited supply. Order yours as early as late November for delivery in mid March to early August. You will love these baby chicks. They will grow up to lay beautiful blue eggs, and occasionally a light green egg, for your table. Check out our blog “Blue Egg Chicken: Ameraucana or Americana?” Jeff Smith & Cackle Hatchery is a member of the Ameraucana Alliance Club For more information about the Ameraucana club, links to ameraucanaalliance.org and ameraucana.org
