Ancona

I'm not the biggest fan of this breed, as they are notoriously flighty. However, they are very good layers, one of the best breeds for that purpose. They also, since they're a Mediterranean class breed, are thin and don't eat much. Ancona's tend to be pretty rare also. Overall, not the best breed, at least for me.

I like the Anconas, they're sweet little birds, great at foraging, have gorgeous feathers and are good layers ... but they can be very skitty and noisy. The first time my point of lay Ancona bantam arrived at my house we let her out of the box outside (a mistake, should have done it in the coop) and off she ran and flew straight over the fence. Yes, it took me a while to tame my hen who can still be a little nervous but with a few daily treats (lettuce and tomatoes) and hand feeding, she has become the sweetest little hen. I love her! She lays almost daily and does everything with my Leghorn (who has a completely opposite personality) who are the best of friends. A brilliant breed if you're up for a bit of a challenge, but definitely not for a beginner.

Here's my Ancona bantam (left) with her Leghorn bantam friend (right):

A friendly chatty little chicken.
Love the color/markings on mine.
I did have to earn their trust by staying quiet in my movements around them.
I like them more every day.
Economical eaters and great tick pickers.
They love to follow me around like little ducklings-occasionally undo my shoestrings for fun.

Just a great bird in my eyes.
My 3 Ancona's ( spot, dot and splash ) are very friendly with me, each have laid a big white egg every day since the age of 17 weeks ( which is early for most breeds ). They are very economical eaters.
I just love watching them fly, hop and bounce up our terraces and all through the garden. They are great at escaping from predators......and the run, but at least they jump back over when they want to lay an egg.
I would suggest these are great birds for people with space, hot climates and want a breed that can evade predators and lay them lost of eggs.

Acquired these two girls from someone who wasn't supposed to have them in the city. They were still pullets. They lay one egg every other day between the two of them. Have not noted them to be particularly flighty, however, when they do decide to take wing, they have more height and distance than any other breed in our flock. Was surprised by the height of comb and the spurs on the hens, we actually thought they were roosters at first! Overall, energetic, lively birds that allow us to handle them.

I have 2 of these hens, and I will never get any again! My Anconas are good egg layers, but they are VERY flighty, nervous, mean to other chickens, and just a plain horrible chicken!

Here is my Ancona hen Ellie:

My anaconas are soooooooooooo flighty you can't get within 10 feet of them without them fleeing. I know it's not me 'cause none of my other hens are like that. They are not pretty. But images I've seen seem attractive. Perhaps it's because they get frostbitten so easily. They are really great white egg layers. I love my chickens but I wish I could get closer to Twitch and Osprey.

My two Ancona hens, Heckle & Jeckle. Named so because they are always right next to each other just like in the cartoon.

I love my Anconas. They have got the most funny personalities and very lively. Mine are the most frequent layers in my flock and very rarely skip a day egg-laying. They do however make constant noise. Not too loud, just what seems like a constant wining. These birds are a little on the flighty side and have great jumping ability. Even with flight feathers trimmed mine can jump much higher than the rest of the hens in my flock.

This summer I was given two Ancona hens which was a breed I had been wanting for sometime. Their feathers shine beautifully and their patterns are so unique between each bird. The combs are large even with the hens. I was shocked to see how well this breed can fly! My hens easily jump in one swift motion onto the roof of their coop - about 7ft high. They also perch on the 6ft chain link fence of their enclosure each morning before escaping to the other side!

Updating 3/22/2014:
They have had some cold damage on their huge combs, but nothing really bad. Their combs shrank when they moulted and came back fine.

I am changing my review, at least as these birds fit in a mixed flock. All the chickens came in the same box as day olds so their pecking order evolved naturally. The Ancona are top of the flock and seem to find it necessary to remind all the other birds of this fact by mounting them, ripping back feathers with their feet as they do and pecking out neck feathers. After moult, my Faverolles and EEs grew their muffs back but they are gone again as the Ancona pecked them out.

They are decent layers, 4-5 per week. Now that they are mature, the eggs are usually 60 to 62 grams, solidly UDSA Large.

I would NOT recommend these birds for a mixed flock.

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Initial review November 2012

Purchased from Ideal Poultry. Hatched 6/12/2012, arrived 6/14. Price is per bird without shipping.

They were the first to hit on the water nipples, even before I had the water line hooked up. They come over to see what's going on. They were the first to check out the nest box and lay in it. A Faverolle laid 2 eggs in the coop even though the community box was available AND I had put her in it.

They were stand-offish when younger, wouldn't take earwigs from my hand though they loved them whereas one of the Australorps and one of the Chanteclers would jump in my lap to get an earwig before the other birds had a chance. I don't know if it was just getting older or the BOSS but when they were about 19 weeks old I treated with BOSS and EVERY bird is all over that. The Anconas will now eat out of my hand.

The one that first started singing the egg song (8 days before she first laid at 22 weeks) started hopping on my back about the same time if I was knelt down doing something and climb to my shoulder when I stood. Yesterday she flew from the ground, landed on my wife's arm and stayed there for 5 minutes. It was not extended, offered or otherwise suggested. It was a HUGE surprise. Thus, along with the Cubalayas, they are the friendliest. Don't know if it has something to do with hormones and now laying eggs or what.

Other reviews say they are flightly. Well, no more than any of my other 5 breeds. Every one of them will fly a 4' fence from the known "flyers" like the Cubalaya and Partridge Chanteclers to the "heavy" EEs and Australorps. If they want to be on the other side, they will be. Haven't seen any of them up in a tree though there aren't that many to choose from.

They just started laying small eggs this week so I can't comment yet on how productive they are.

Pictures at ~20 weeks

Zia (and a Faverolle tail in the background)


Yue - first of the pair to lay.

I love this bird. She is smart and looks at me when I talk to her. She is the first to squack at me when she seems me, the first out of the gate and the last one into the coop. SHe jumps our 5 foot fence occasionally and have found her roosting in a tree about 15 feet high, not sure how she got there but she comes back when I call for her.
She will either be the first to get killed off by a predoator or the last one.

She's a crazy cool bird. One of my favorites.

The most attractive aspect of this breed, apart from the pretty feathers, is the large white eggs they lay practically everyday. They rarely, if ever go broody, and providing managed well, can fully moult in a month at the end of the year's laying season. My girl is the boss of my little flock and has been the most prolific layer. She even managed to squeeze out an egg well over 100 grams !!!



This is her a few weeks ago.


This is her as a young 'un

She started laying at just over 20 weeks old (22 possibly) and didn't waver until she started her moult.

The problem with the Ancona, as with most of its Mediterranean relatives, is the fact they are flighty. Unless you are keeping them confined, you will need to clip wing feathers or else they'll be over fences, up in trees and in all the wrong places. They can also be a little vocal sometimes, but I like to think of it as them singing me a song

My Ancona is 7 weeks old. She is absolutly one of my favorites. Our Ancona is actually my 5yo sons chick, he originally chose the Barred Rock but it was no where near as social as the Ancona chick so now Speckles is my sons. She allows him to pick her up constantly. She doesnt run away and will just stand there for him. She is so friendly and makes the weirdest noise. She doesnt "chirp" like the other chicks, it more of a humming. Its hard to explain. Ancona's are deffinitly in my top breeds.

My Anconas are only 2 weeks old but of all the breeds (7) in my brooder, these are the friendliest. They rush to stand on my palm for a ride up to see everything from a bird's eye view.

great breed. out of 20, had no problems.lost none. had no frostbite.

I started with five of these, but am now down to one. They seem to be the least hardy of my Mediterranean breeds. That being said, anconas are some of my favorites. They have very interesting personalities, even as young chicks. They are adventurous and are often the first to approach and try something new--whether it be a treat or an object, they are usually the first to peck at it. They do not seem to do as well in a free range situation as some others, though, tending to stay close to home. They lay a good sized white egg.

Of the white egg layers, these are among my favorites. Very pretty, hardy and I think they are among the best layers of large white eggs.

I have 2 hens left of this breed. I started out with 5 and a rooster, some didn't survive free ranging as well as I hoped.
Oddly I could tell who was a rooster by 2 weeks. It was the ugly one with the enlarged comb, funny looking wings... and it crowed. The males of this breed mature very fast.
The hens lay white eggs and are more dedicated to the job than rode island reds. The only drawback about having them in colder climates is that they get frostbite on their large combs. They also choose to sleep in the trees instead of a warm coop. It is also a threatened breed. I do love the speckledness.