ANCONA chicks

[Bedste]

I have a clutch of Ancona chicks and I have noticed that some of them look different on the face than the others.... Can they be sexed by the way they look on their heads. Anyone out there an Ancona expert?

 

[Erica]

Not an expert Bedste, but I was right last time... Well, mostly right.

What I've noticed is that the boys have bigger legs (same for all breeds) and the head is slightly... don't know how to put it... more Roman? The top part of the beak, especially where it joins the head, seems bigger if that makes sense. They also often stand more upright.

I think with my last batch there was also a difference in the colouring, i.e. the males had more yellow fluff on their heads. But this may have been independent of sexing generally. It doesn't make sense as a sex-related trait, put it that way.

Comb sexing may be more reliable if done at exactly 3 weeks (no later, no earlier). All things being equal the girls have thin yellow combs (viewed from above) while the boys often (but not always!) have wider and slightly pink combs.

Good luck with sexing your birds, they're a lovely breed.

Regards
Erica

 

[Bedste]

wow.... thanks....

my prob is that w this breed their combs all look the same to me. All the hens have such large combs too. I looked tonight and I can not see any difference. they are 2 weeks old ..... and all have pink combs.... maybe I have 9 roos.... hope not
\\

 

[Bedste]

Have you ever noticed that some of them have more black on their heads than the others?

 

[bobbieschicks]

Not an expert as I have only one AC chick that I hatched -gives me nothing to compare her/him to. Mine was 2 weeks old this past Tuesday in the top picture.

This was at 2 weeks old - standing on the thermometer

This was at 1.5 weeks old

I'll let you know what my AC turns out to be.

So far I've had White Leghorns and AC & 2 mutt chicks - so not much experience with chicks or guessing sex and I'm hoping I guess wrong b/c my WLs all look like roos to me. My hopes for white eggs diminishes daily. LOL.

 

[Bedste]

they are all cute.... thanks

 

[hodor]

Comb sexing may be more reliable if done at exactly 3 weeks (no later, no earlier). All things being equal the girls have thin yellow combs (viewed from above) while the boys often (but not always!) have wider and slightly pink combs.

Thanks for that. week 3 started today and one of my Ancona chicks has a small yellow comb the others is slightly larger with just a hint of pink in it. The one with the pink showed what we thought might be other rooster type traits too. I'll see how it works out but from my sample of two chicks it looks reliable so far.

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

My last batch of Ancona chicks all looked quite a bit different from each other as far as their black and white markings. And some of their combs pinked up early enough to cause me a bit of alarm, but they were all pullets (ordered sexed from a hatchery).

I think you'll just have to wait them out and see what you end up with

 

[3riverschick]

Don't know about the breed but I found a neat little book on them:
hang on a sec. Here ya go:
A little journey among Anconas.
by Sheppard, H. Cecil, 1919.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=ncs1.ark:/13960/t5q81mj7t;view=1up;seq=7

Oh, here's another one:
History of the Anconas
by Van Hoesen, Roy William , 1915
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89042647982;view=1up;seq=1
Here's a nice long multi-page article on the breed . Starts on page 263. "The Anconas...And Why".
https://books.google.com/books?id=d...ge&q="ancona world" subject:"poultry"&f=false

and an article by this author:
Suburban Life, Volume 15 , Aug. 1912 .
Why I Believe Anconas Are the best Chickens
by Van Hoesen, Roy William
(article on breeds for suburbanites)
https://books.google.com/books?id=N...QuwUIUjAK#v=onepage&q=ancona breeding&f=false

Happy New Year!
Karen