Ancona Chicken Thread

[bruceha2000]

All I see are pullets.

Looks like the sexers at Ideal batted 1000 on my order of 12 chickens. I am SO happy. Perhaps I should put Ideal on my Holiday card list.

 

[EmielK]

The Dutch club for Ancona's.
http://anconaclub.nl



Pics of my own Ancona's. Normal and small size; Single comb.
http://s1169.photobucket.com/albums/r502/EmielK/

 

[Yellow House Farm]

Greetings All!

Thought I'd share some fun Ancona news...

So far this season our Ancona pullets have won:

Champion large fowl at the Deerfield fair

Reserve Champion Mediterranian at the New Hampshire Poultry Fanciers Association

Champion Large fowl at the Little Rhody Poultry Show

We'll see how we do in a couple weeks in Boston.

Cheers!

Joseph

 

[bruceha2000]

The girls started laying yesterday, at 1 day shy of 22 weeks.

Congrats on the show results Joseph!

Bruce

 

[JerryR]

That's great Joseph. You have beautiful birds.

Can you tell us about the lay rate, egg size, and longevity or your hens/flock? I read that old old Ancona book (History of the Anconas - 1915 by R.W. Van Housen) that Google scanned that you can find online. And I think that Anconas have really declined since then, from what is generally available anyway. I know you've been working at this for some time and I'm really interested to know if you've also been able to recover their former outstanding laying ability as well.

Thanks a lot,
Jerry

 

[bruceha2000]

Can you tell us about the lay rate, egg size, and longevity or your hens/flock? I read that old old Ancona book (History of the Anconas - 1915 by R.W. Van Housen) that Google scanned that you can find online. And I think that Anconas have really declined since then, from what is generally available anyway. I know you've been working at this for some time and I'm really interested to know if you've also been able to recover their former outstanding laying ability as well.

Thanks a lot,
Jerry

Nice reference and great question. Thanks Jerry.

I chose birds based on the description as cold hearty and good layers. Never considered the possibility that the description could potentially relate to a bird that no longer exists after decades of breeding. Or "not" breeding but just knocking out eggs to hatch without concern for ALL the attributes of the original birds.

Google finds it as: History of the Anconas - 1915 by R.O.Y. Van Hoesen
even though CLEARLY Roy William and R.W. are correct from the actual text. R.O.Y. is NOT accurate. But what the heck, Google found it given your reference and that is what is important. Interesting to think that nearly 100 years of history have passed since he wrote the book. Now we need a book titled "History of the Anconas after Van Hoesen's 1915 book"

I've read through a bit. I like the tail carriage section:
"An extremely low sweeping tail is not desirable, and is not characteristic of the true Ancona"

One of the things I like about my mixed flock is the range of colors, body and tail types. From the Cubalayas with their low sweeping tails, through the EEs with their Delta shaped (from the rear) tails held up, to the Anconas with their upright, narrow (side to side) tails. It gives the Ancona that "I am a very alert bird" look. Just wouldn't be the same with a Cubalaya tail!!

OK, my birds have already failed the "heritage characteristics" test. They did not start to lay at 16 weeks, they started at 22 weeks. Hopefully they have the characteristic of laying well during their later years as suggested in the book.

OK, I gotta stop reading the book and then editing this post!

"The color of the shell is very significant as the best markets pay a premium of several cents per dozen for white eggs".

What a difference a few decades make!

Bruce

 

[bobbieschicks]

The girls started laying yesterday, at 1 day shy of 22 weeks.

Congrats on the show results Joseph!

Bruce

Yeah! Looks like we guess correctly on the sex? That's a great start time too - my White Leghorn and WL/EE mix both started at 19 weeks. My Lavender Orpingtons and Silkies started at 24 and 25 weeks. And of course my Ancona waited until 55 weeks - but that's another story.

 

[bruceha2000]

OK, REALLY gotta stop reading!

With regard to breeding:

"It is not wise to buy stock and eggs from various and several breeders, as it is quite likely will result in a heterogenous lot of stock that will take some time to breed to uniformity"

Do the usual rules of genetics not apply to chickens? Why is inbreeding them NOT a problem??

Bruce

 

[bruceha2000]

My Cubalaya pullet laid her first small pinkish egg yesterday. I don't know if they will get bigger. The two on the bottom are from the Anconas laid 11/23 and the two either side of the Cubalaya egg were laid today. The one on the right is the first full size Large egg from the girls. The one on the far right is a store egg for comparison .



The Anconas have been ramping up since they started 2 weeks ago. Both laid on Sunday, Zia laid again on Monday and Wednesday. She and Yue both laid the last 3 days. The eggs aren't as white as the store eggs. I wonder if there is some brown egg breed in their line or is the Ancona white actually an off white?

Still waiting on the Australorp and E.E. that have been squatting for a week. The other Cubalaya surprised me by squatting today and she checked out the nest box.

Bruce

 

[bobbieschicks]

My Cubalaya pullet laid her first small pinkish egg yesterday. I don't know if they will get bigger. The two on the bottom are from the Anconas laid 11/23 and the two either side of the Cubalaya egg were laid today. The one on the right is the first full size Large egg from the girls. The one on the far right is a store egg for comparison .



The Anconas have been ramping up since they started 2 weeks ago. Both laid on Sunday, Zia laid again on Monday and Wednesday. She and Yue both laid the last 3 days. The eggs aren't as white as the store eggs. I wonder if there is some brown egg breed in their line or is the Ancona white actually an off white?

Still waiting on the Australorp and E.E. that have been squatting for a week. The other Cubalaya surprised me by squatting today and she checked out the nest box.

Bruce

Congrats on the new egg layers! My AC's white eggs are just as white as my White Leghorn and store bought.