Ancona Reviews

The most attractive aspect of this breed, apart from the pretty feathers, is the large white eggs they lay practically everyday. They rarely, if ever go broody, and providing managed well, can fully moult in a month at the end of the year's laying season. My girl is the boss of my little flock and has been the most prolific layer. She even managed to squeeze out an egg well over 100 grams !!! 

This is her a few weeks ago.

 

This is her as a young 'un

She started laying at just over 20 weeks old (22 possibly) and didn't waver until she started her moult.

The problem with the Ancona, as with most of its Mediterranean relatives, is the fact they are flighty. Unless you are keeping them confined, you will need to clip wing feathers or else they'll be over fences, up in trees and in all the wrong places. They can also be a little vocal sometimes, but I like to think of it as them singing me a song 

My Ancona is 7 weeks old. She is absolutly one of my favorites. Our Ancona is actually my 5yo sons chick, he originally chose the Barred Rock but it was no where near as social as the Ancona chick so now Speckles is my sons. She allows him to pick her up constantly. She doesnt run away and will just stand there for him. She is so friendly and makes the weirdest noise. She doesnt "chirp" like the other chicks, it more of a humming. Its hard to explain. Ancona's are deffinitly in my top breeds.

My Anconas are only 2 weeks old but of all the breeds (7) in my brooder, these are the friendliest.  They rush to stand on my palm for a ride up to see everything from a bird's eye view.

I started with five of these, but am now down to one.  They seem to be the least hardy of my Mediterranean breeds.  That being said, anconas are some of my favorites.  They have very interesting personalities, even as young chicks.  They are adventurous and are often the first to approach and try something new--whether it be a treat or an object, they are usually the first to peck at it.  They do not seem to do as well in a free range situation as some others, though, tending to stay close to home.  They lay a good sized white egg.   

great breed. out of 20, had no problems.lost none. had no frostbite.

Of the white egg layers, these are among my favorites. Very pretty, hardy and I think they are among the best layers of large white eggs.

I have 2 hens left of this breed. I started out with 5 and a rooster, some didn't survive free ranging as well as I hoped.

Oddly I could tell who was a rooster by 2 weeks. It was the ugly one with the enlarged comb, funny looking wings... and it crowed. The males of this breed mature very fast.

The hens lay white eggs and are more dedicated to the job than rode island reds. The only drawback about having them in colder climates is that they get frostbite on their large combs. They also choose to sleep in the trees instead of a warm coop. It is also a threatened breed. I do love the speckledness.