Ancona Chicken Thread

[tandykins]

Mine CAN fly but rarely do. Tuck the wings in tight and run is the primary mode of transportation like they don't realize they can fly faster. My understanding is that chickens USUALLY don't want to fly over something they can't see the other side of so they go to the top of the fence first. One technique to stop them landing there is to string a wire a few inches above the top since they can't land on it. Of course if they WANT to be on the other side, that won't stop them, 4' is not an issue for a chicken.

Yeah - I can't keep my chickens out of the preschool playground next door. They hop over my fence (4' on my side, 6' on theirs) and get back over without problems. One of my hens frequently (and irritatingly) flies up to nest on top of the 8' roof of our coop. All with clipped wings. :|

 

[bruceha2000]

Yeah - I can't keep my chickens out of the preschool playground next door. They hop over my fence (4' on my side, 6' on theirs) and get back over without problems. One of my hens frequently (and irritatingly) flies up to nest on top of the 8' roof of our coop. All with clipped wings. :|

Dang, that is hard! Where there is a will there is a way I guess. Both wings clipped or only one? It is my understanding that only one is better since the difference in lift on one side screws them up.

One reason my birds might not fly fences is that they have more room than they can possibly use so they really aren't kept out of anywhere "interesting". They know they can walk around the fence so why bother going over I guess. Still it seems odd that if they run when they want to go somewhere fast.

 

[tandykins]

Dang, that is hard! Where there is a will there is a way I guess. Both wings clipped or only one? It is my understanding that only one is better since the difference in lift on one side screws them up.

One reason my birds might not fly fences is that they have more room than they can possibly use so they really aren't kept out of anywhere "interesting". They know they can walk around the fence so why bother going over I guess. Still it seems odd that if they run when they want to go somewhere fast.

At first I clipped just one as I had also heard that it affected balance and would discourage flying. It didn't - then I tried both on the ones flying. The clipping I'd done, more or less, made no difference at all.

Mine have half an acre which isn't a massive space but it isn't as though the 17 of them are enclosed in a tiny space or anything.

It does amuse me a bit. Mostly my cockerels will be the one to hop the fence into the preschool yard only to immediately freak out when the 30 or so children start playing "CHASE THE CHICKEN!"

The teachers came to me and said, "I don't want them to hurt him! I try to stop them but they're so excited!

I respond with, "Oh let them. That'll teach the little jerk to fly over the fence if every time he flies over he gets mobbed by kids. Maybe it will make him think twice about going over.

We had an incident recently where I heard one of my cockerels crowing from somewhere decidedly not my yard.

I went hunting around and peeked over the fence. There he was. As soon as he saw me, he screamed. He knew he was in trouble. I pointed and yelled ,"HA! I KNEW you were over there! Bad chicken! I'm coming to get you!"

No sooner had I left my yard to walk over (where I had been heading anyway to pick my son up from school) than he hopped back into our yard. He knows when mum is serious!

My neighbours think this is hi-larious.

 

[IMWitty]

We have had an Ancona girl for two years now and she quickly rose to being the favorite! Very friendly, curious, will get up on my arm to see what kind of treat I may have and likes to follow me around when i garden -she loves it when I lift pots or rocks to go 'bug hunting' underneath. She is a regular egg deliverer and very vocal, but not in an offending manner . We can always tell it's her as she sounds like a squeaky wheel when she chirps and it's a very intriguing sound. Great forager, but not flighty like our Andalusian or Sicilian Buttercup....she will continue to be our beloved pet long after she quits laying eggs somedays.

I would put Anconas very high on anyone's list for a chicken breed to get.

 

[fiset94]

Hello,

Quick Question... I got three mystery chicks from My pet chicken.... after doing some research... I believe that one of them is an Ancona...

Can you tell me what you think??

 

[gruffy]

Sure looks like an ancona chick... but there are several breeds with the same look as babies. If all her feathers start with a white tip and turn black you definitely have an ancona if only her neck feathers turn black she's a lackenvelder. But those are the only two I know so far that have a similar chick. But keep us posted! And good luck on your chickening!

 

[fiset94]

Sure looks like an ancona chick... but there are several breeds with the same look as babies. If all her feathers start with a white tip and turn black you definitely have an ancona

if only her neck feathers turn black she's a lackenvelder. But those are the only two I know so far that have a similar chick. But keep us posted! And good luck on your chickening!

Thanks for the tip!! I will keep an eye on the feathers... how long does it take for them to start with the white tip and turn back?

 

[bruceha2000]

I have to backtrack on the "not flying" thing. I lost my remaining Partridge Chantecler to a fox about 1.5 hours before sunset a few Sundays ago. They were all out going wherever they wanted as they have since they were ~ 5 months old. In this case, she was outside a much less than structurally sound 42" chicken wire fence surrounding the barnyard and pond. Lost an EE about the same time last year, though I had remembered it being earlier in April.

Since my wife and I were going to Wisconsin to pick up DD2 from college, I decided I needed to repair the fence so the girls could be out when DD1 was not able to sit out with them playing Livestock Guardian Daughter. This is NOT a predator proof fence but I figured a structurally sound 42" fence would likely at least make the fox work at it some and it couldn't sneak up as easily.

Well at least one Ancona and one Cubalaya have been found outside the enclosure when they were "locked in". I was under no delusions that a 42" fence would keep them in if they wanted out. However, the perimeter of the space is ~ 575 linear feet or 20,000 square feet and the pond takes up about 1/3rd of the area. HUGE for most peoples' chickens but apparently since mine are used to going anywhere they want, they seem to think they should continue to do so on occasion. MOSTLY they do all stay inside the fenced area though.

 

[SanderB]

Hello,

Quick Question... I got three mystery chicks from My pet chicken.... after doing some research... I believe that one of them is an Ancona...

Can you tell me what you think??

That´s not an Ancona chick.

 

[elizmartin]

A good place to start is www.feathersite.com ( poultry site) find chickens and click on Ancona….There are several pictures of chicks at the bottom to compare this chick to….also other breeds if You wish to compare.