Ancona Chicken Thread

[SanderB]

My chicks look very different in chick down.

 

[Yellow House Farm]

There seems to be a difference in quality of mottling in European vs. North American Anconas. I wonder if this down discrepancy does not signify the source.

 

[SanderB]

The mottled chicks from Ancona bantams or Anconas have a completely different down then a mottled chick from an other breed.
From other breeds it looks more like the American chicks.

Here they are brown with stripes on the head. Very special since in the adult stage they have no brown or gold or whatsoever.

The male chicks are darker on the head and have a black dot on their breast. These are all males, temperature of the incubator was too high this time. Only 20/48 hatched. So 50 % males and 50 % females. But the females all died in the egg.

The incubator is American, might explain why it doesn´t work good since you guys use Fahrenheit in staid of degrees Celsius. I think I am going to buy a good thermometer to have a better control over the temperature.

 

[bruceha2000]

However the other one I am still not convinced that she isn't a BA. Looking through pictures on BYC it seems that some BA's have a fully black beak, while others have beaks that are only partially black. Hers is mostly black. The only other breed that she could be (from the breeds the woman had) is a BM, which most of them seem to have the black beaks as well, also she still has a few feathers with white on them and all of the BM's I looked at pictures of were pure black. Plus the BM's also seem to have white ear lobes, hers are pink.

[/URL]

BAs have very dark brown eyes, those look kind of green. BAs are all black when fully feathered, your bird isn't all there yet. That said, Echo sprouted a couple of tail feathers with a bit of white on the tips after her first moult this winter. So did Persepone and she is an Easter Egger with brown tail feathers going to black at the ends. Wierd. What color are the legs and bottom of the feet? Legs on a BA are slate, bottom of feet white. MAYBE a Jersey Giant? Would have yellow on bottom of the feet but I think they have dark eyes as well. Other than bottom of feet color and size, BAs and JGs (at least hatchery quality) are very similar in appearance. Maybe the "postman" came by and your girl is a cross of some sort?

Bruce

 

[Beastie]

I doubt it, but they are from Murray Mcmurray so hatchery stock.... I don't think she is a JG next that isn't one of the breeds that was ordered. I will try and get some good pictures of her feet, ear lobes and such but she is the chick that likes handling the least and she's fast so wish me luck.

 

[Beastie]

Okay, here are the breeds that were ordered.
Her ear lobes are pink, especially when compared with my other black pullet (whom I think is a WFBS).

Slate legs with pink/white bottoms and greenish eyes. Though even the Minorcas seem to have dark/black eyes (all of my flock have lighter eyes at the moment aside from my EF, whose eyes are black).

The white spots in her wings I was talking about.

Not much white just those few spots. If she isn't a BA that leaves WFBS and Minorca (WFBS being the only one of the three with light eyes but both BM and WFBS have really white earlobes). GAH! lol

 

[Yellow House Farm]

The mottled chicks from Ancona bantams or Anconas have a completely different down then a mottled chick from an other breed.
From other breeds it looks more like the American chicks.

Here they are brown with stripes on the head. Very special since in the adult stage they have no brown or gold or whatsoever.

The male chicks are darker on the head and have a black dot on their breast. These are all males, temperature of the incubator was too high this time. Only 20/48 hatched. So 50 % males and 50 % females. But the females all died in the egg.

The incubator is American, might explain why it doesn´t work good since you guys use Fahrenheit in staid of degrees Celsius. I think I am going to buy a good thermometer to have a better control over the temperature.

???????? That's really interesting. Can you put up a specific pic? I'm really quite curious.

 

[SanderB]

In 2 hours I go get my new chicks. I will take some pics to show the difference between males and females and the typical chick downs.

 

[SanderB]

A male chick, you can see the black dot on his breast.






A female chick, with no black dot on her breast and a more yellowish head.






A very yellow chick

 

[Yellow House Farm]

That is crazy different. I'll check breast here on our next hatch (Tuesday) to see if there's a patch o our pattern. Our chicks have none of this golden red overlay.