When Do Ameraucana Roosters Mature?

The Ameraucana chicken is best known for the blue-colored eggs laid by the hens, but an Ameraucana rooster is a beautiful bird that will make a welcome addition to any flock. Determining when your rooster has reached full maturity isn't a clear-cut task. Simply put: roosters are considered mature when they are one year of age. Prior to that, they are defined as cockerels. But physical maturity isn't so easily defined.

  1. Color Indications

    • The color of your rooster is a reliable indicator of maturity. Young birds, both male and female, have a deep yellow coloring on their legs and feet. This coloring may vary depending on the color of your bird, but the important thing to watch for is any change. As your rooster matures, he will lose that bright yellow coloring, which will become more muted and gray, brown or black. The rooster's feathers will also change from the subtle chick coloring to a vibrant adult color.

    Changes in the Comb

    • Changes in the comb of the rooster are also helpful in recognizing maturity. The comb is the crest on the head of your rooster. This will be nonexistent on a chick and will slowly grow on a maturing cockerel. Ameraucana roosters have a pea comb, which is a smaller comb that remains close to the head upon maturity. The comb turns vivid red once the rooster has matured.

    Weight and Crowing

    • A bantam Ameraucana rooster has reached full size when it is 30 oz. A large fowl Ameraucana rooster is full sized when it weighs 6 1/2 lbs. Of course, your rooster may get bigger than these standards or may never reach the standard weight at all, but you can make a good judgment based on weight. It also helps to listen for the crow. Cockerels may begin crowing as young as two months old and some may wait until nine months old. While you can't use the crowing itself as the only indicator of maturity, it is a signal that your bird is maturing. Use this signal, along with the other indicators, to make an educated judgment. If your rooster is still learning to crow or making attempts, it is probably not fully mature yet.

    Spurs

    • A spur is a bony projection on the inside back of a rooster's leg. When a cockerel is still young, this spur will be small and will not yet be hardened. It will be straight and project at a 90-degree angle from the leg. As the rooster matures, the spur becomes hard and begins to curve. You can be sure your rooster is fully mature when this takes place.