70 
HISTORY OF ANCONAS 
O. K. Poultry Journal: 
Of all the many breeds that are rap¬ 
idly gaining in popularity, the Anconas 
head the list. We would not he sur¬ 
prised if some day they would crowd 
the Leghorn for its place as the great 
egg machine. The Anconas are beauti¬ 
ful in every sense of the word. If you 
have ever owned a few you cannot help 
but admire them. Their trim body, 
wonderfully intelligent head, strong 
vigor and vitality, beautiful plumage of 
black and white, with the black and 
green lustre, undoubtedly ranks them 
far to the front among our most beauti¬ 
ful breeds of chickens. Not only are 
they beautiful, but they have won their 
place as one of the greatest egg pro¬ 
ducers. They are great layers and 
mature early. The Anconas are great 
egg machines because they are eco¬ 
nomical egg producers. We feel cer¬ 
tain that before long the Anconas will 
be one of the most popular breeds of 
chickens in the Southwest. They pos¬ 
sess the merit and can and do deliver 
the goods. No prospective poultry keep¬ 
er will make a mistake by tieing their 
fate to the Anconas. 
American Poultry World: 
The present Ancona is a different 
fowl from the Ancona of 1890. It is 
finer in type and more uniform, better 
in comb, ear lobes, and plumage. Brief¬ 
ly speaking it has been much improved 
in color and type. Anconas are very 
precocious, of rapid growth and early 
maturity, and are marvelous layers of 
large white eggs. 
New York World: 
Noted for their early maturity, large 
production of ivory white shelled eggs 
and for excellent quality of meat, the 
Anconas are gaining rapidly in popu¬ 
larity from one end of America to the 
other. They are especially adapted to 
commercial egg farms, where they are 
easily handled in large flock units. 
The mottled Anconas may be con¬ 
sidered to be among the rising genera¬ 
tion of American fowls in popular 
favor. They are coming and coming- 
fast. Those who like a chicken which 
is especially profitable as an egg pro¬ 
ducer, attractive in plumage pattern, 
and adapted to stand intensive condi¬ 
tions under large flock commercial 
poultry management will find the An¬ 
cona worthy of their consideration. 
The Ancona is among our oldest 
breeds of poultry, the early records 
showing that they came from the 
Province of Ancona in ancient Italy 
where they were bred patiently by the 
Italian peasants for generations. In 
their native country they have always 
been considered superior to other 
breeds in the production of eggs, in 
beauty of plumage and in quality of 
meat. 
Back around 1850 they were import¬ 
ed into England and about 1890 the 
first importations were made into the 
United States, where they have con¬ 
tinued to gain steadily in popular favor 
in spite of strong competition from 
other more firmly established breeds. 
It was some time previous to their 
introduction into England that Belgium 
sought them in large numbers because, 
of their most pronounced character¬ 
istic—to lay well in winter. 
Many have wondered how it is that 
a breed originating in a warm country 
like Italy could be so efficient as an 
egg producer during our cold American 
winters. The explanation probably 
lies in the fact that the Province of 
Ancona, is a mountainous country 
where cold temperature prevails. Bit¬ 
ter winds from Northern Europe sweep 
over it. Thus the Ancona type has,, 
since its inception, been bred to pro¬ 
duce eggs under unfavorable condi¬ 
tions. 
Among American poultry breeds to 
