I TWELVE ANCONA POINTS f 



I AM a suburbanite, and have bred many kinds of fowl during the past 

 twenty years. 

 I discarded all other breeds for Anconas, which I have bred exclusively 

 for seven years, for the following twelve reasons: 



(1) Anconas eat less than any other breed, eith«r Mediterranean, 

 American, or Asiatic classes. This is an important item, when one must 

 buy all their feed, at the high prices of recent years. 



(2) Anconas lay large white eggs, and produce them at the least 

 possible cost per dozen. Figuring on a yearly basis, including the vari- 

 ations in prices of both eggs and feed, my fowls produce eggs at a cost of 

 ten cents per dozen. This is not figuring eggs at above local market 

 prices. Anconas are not excelled as egg-producers by any breed. 



(3) Pullets begin laying at from four to five months old, and are 

 prolific layers until they are four years old at least. It is not necessary 

 to replace the old stock with pullets each year, or two years, as must be 

 done with other breeds if the flock is kept profitable. I frequently have 

 among my best layers four-year-old hens. 



(4) The baby chicks are extremely hardy and vigorous, the death 

 rate is very low, and they are quick to develop to the light broiler stage. 

 The fertility of the eggs and the strength of the germs always insures a 

 good hatch. It may not be a characteristic of the breed, but my experi- 

 ence has been seventy to eighty per cent, pullets in all hatches. 



(5) Anconas are excellent winter layers, when the price of eggs are 

 high. And this, too, without any nostrums or concentrated feeds. The 

 thermometer has reached forty degrees below zero here and last winter 

 there were three months of incessant cold weather ranging from zero to 

 thirty degrees below. I use canvas front houses. 



(6) Anconas are excellent table fowls. The meat is of fine grain and 

 of good flavor; their skin is yellow. 



(7) Anconas are beautiful fowls, and a flock of them always catches 

 the eye of a true fancier. They are an ornament to any grounds. Their 

 color is a mottled black and white, the black back-ground has a beetle- 

 green luster (very pronounced in the males,) and is flecked irregularly 

 with white tips on about twenty per cent, of the feathers. The comb and 

 wattles are bright red, earlobes white or creamy, shanks clear yellow or 

 slightly mottled. Their erect carriage and alertness put them in a "beauty 

 class" all by themselves. 



(8) There is an enormous demand for stock and eggs, and Ancona 

 breeders are unable to fill the orders. I make over $10 per hen, per year, 



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