Ancona
Feature by Toni Marie Graham
Photo courtesy of Grahams Pure Breed Poultry
Origin: Mediterranean
Classification: Light Soft Feather
Egg colour: White 200 – 270 per year
Uses: Exhibition, Utility
Weights: Cock: 2.7 – 2.95Kg, Hen: 2.25 – 2.5Kg.
Bantam Cock: 570 – 680g, Hen: 510 – 620g.
Appearance
The Ancona can be seen in two different varieties, the single combed and less common rose combed forms.
In the single comb variety the combs can flop over in the females, much like the Leghorn.
Anconas have bright red wattles and face, and should have a large well pointed bright red comb.
They have white earlobes, alert and bright orange eyes, and a yellow beak striped with horn .
The feathers on an Ancona are beetle green-black, V-tipped with white and they have yellow featherless legs and feet and should have black mottling down the shanks of the legs.
They come in both large fowl and bantam, although the bantam varieties are more common.
Origin of the Ancona
The Ancona is a breed of chicken which originated in the Marche region of Italy within the Ancona Provience, but was bred to its present type mainly in the United Kingdom in the 19th century.
The Ancona was created using a mixture of breeds including the Leghorn. There are a number of views about the origins of the Ancona, some believing that it is very similar in appearance to the original Mottled Leghorn and that it is no more than a variety of Leghorn, however, it remains to this day a distinct breed and has its own distinctive type.
The first Ancona chickens were imported into England in 1851, and selectively bred for regularity and consistency of the white markings in the plumage. Birds were exported from Britain to the United States in 1888.
Rose-combed Ancona chickens were first shown in 1910 and were most likely created using a Wynadotte.
Photo courtesy of Grahams Pure Breed Poultry
How to keep Ancona
Ancona are an ideal breed to keep if you want a decorative layer, these birds, both bantam and large very rarely ever go broody and egg production doesn't decline as fast with each year unlike some hybrids.
The Ancona can be a skittish breed, but can be tamed if handled regularly. They cope well with being housed for breeding purposes, however they really do thrive in open environments due to being exceptional foragers.
With this in mind they tend to require less feed than some breeds, and this even applies to the Large Fowl variety. Please bare in mind that although they spend the majority of their time foraging through your garden, they are incredible fliers and what I like to call “escape artistes”. They like to venture up high, so take precautions if you live within residential areas or near by vast outstretches of open land, it may take a while to see or indeed find Henrietta again. It didn't take us long to buy a fishing net!
If you'd like to try your hand at hatching Ancona you should know that they require no special methods, it is quite simple and easy to hatch Ancona on the standard incubator settings that most use for other breeds.
Photo courtesy of Grahams Pure Breed Poultry
Photo courtesy of Grahams Pure Breed Poultry
Our Ancona chicks hatch different colours, the bantam pop out a lovely chocolate box of colours ranging from yellow – mahogany brown patches. Whereas the large fowl hatch black with yellow splodges, but both have strikingly vibrant yellow legs. Even as day olds the chicks are mischievous and full of curiosity and as they feather up they start to test their speed and wings at around week 8.
Both the bantam and the large fowl are easy to sex based on the size of the comb and the shape of the feather tips. By around week 16, without much practice, the bantams can start to crow and for a little bird it's quite impressive. The large fowl develop a lot more slowly, but as you can imagine gain their size a lot faster.
Photo courtesy of Grahams Pure Breed Poultry
Overall Opinion
As this breed doesn't tend to go broody we don't introduce the young into the adult flock too early, infact we only add them once they're of breeding age.
For such small birds, and even large ones, the Ancona are a very hardy breed. They adapt well to the ever changing weather conditions of the UK and only ever really need a little bit of petroleum jelly on the comb during the frosty months to help keep from frost bite.
Ancona are well-known for their bright yellow legs and beak, however the colour does pale in heavy laying birds. To keep the colour vibrant we feed our Ancona a normal layers pellet with cut corn mixed within.
The birds themselves tend to live for around 8-10 years, which is a considerable amount of time, the hens can drop their egg production significantly when they surpass the age of 4, but not entirely.
Photo courtesy of Grahams Pure Breed Poultry
We have kept Ancona for 3 years, they were the first breed we brought home back in 2015 and they are still as fascinating and as beautiful as they were back then. They supply us with an ample amount of medium to large white eggs, and I sometimes ask myself how on earth such a tiny little lady could have laid “that”, as the eggs really are quite impressive. They have been a joy to keep – minus a few fishing net moments, they're very minimal both in feed, space and care. They have survived the snow, the floods, the rare scorching UK summers. We've had a couple of aggressive cock birds – both large fowl, but this can be said with any breed, it can happen from time to time and we wouldn't recommend breeding from these traits.
We are members of the Ancona club, and we show our birds regularly throughout the year. The bantam single comb varieties prove to be the most popular variety within the uk and there are more numbers within the North of the country.
Like all pure breeds, we recommend that if you are thinking of adding Ancona to your flock that you buy from reputable breeders.
The Ancona Club
Mr P E Smedley
Leckby House,
Flaxton,
York,
North Yorshire
YO6 7QZ
Tel: 01904 468387 / 07989 039891
Email: philipsmedley54@gmail.com
