Painting commissioned by Cash’s Blue Eggs from photos of our own birds.

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The term Black Breasted Red or BBR for short has to do with the visual color of the bird and not its genetic make up.  The BBR in the Large Fowl Araucana is based on the Wheaten coloration with Mahogany added and so technically it is a Dark Red Wheaten. The rooster pictured below is a near perfect example of what the color should look like. BBR is a confusing term because it does not indicate what the genetics behind it are.  The BBR Wild Type rooster and the BBR Wheaten rooster look the same.  A partridge colored rooster looks very similar also.  Where you notice the real difference is with the hens.

The above rooster is a split between a Wild Type and a Dk. Red Wheaten which means he carriers copies of both genes.  Ideally this rooster would have no black in his hackle or saddle, his comb would be a little shorter and of course he would have tufts.

The Colors Of Hens

I will post the three different colors of the hens whose roosters all look similar to the above rooster.

Dk. Red Wheaten Ewh ( APA BBR – Araucana)

Notice a few things about this hen, her head and neck are a dark cinnamon, her wings and back are cinnamon ( well her back will be when it grows back in.) and her breast is a light cinnamon.

Wild Type e+

Photo courtesy of ACA Website

Here the neck is orange the back is an orangish brown and the chest is a very dark cinnamon. This is the correct color for the araucana in the bantam version according to the ABA.

Brown eb

photo courtesy of internet

The neck on this hen is orangeish brown, the body is brown with a darker pattern on each feather.  This color is not in the araucana breed.

Now within the Wheaten color there is variations.  As I stated earlier the araucana wheaten has mahogany which makes it a darker wheaten than other breed varieties.

Wheaten Ameraucana

Photo courtesy of the internet

Dk Red Wheaten Araucana

Do you notice the differences between the two wheatens listed above.

Most of my wheatens tend to be even darker due to other color modifiers that I am trying to eliminate.

This rooster is way too dark in the head, shoulder and saddle, however he is beautiful and when paired with the correct hen has given me the pullet pictured above him.

These two hens are showing the darker colors that many of my BBRs are prone to.  Ideally there would be a little more delineation between the head and body color and the body and chest color.  As you may have gathered though the araucana is always a work in progress.

The above hen is also a Black Breasted Red, however due to color modifiers she is more brown than cinnamon.  She is still a stunning bird.