HISTORY OF ANCONAS 
21 
point we breed for. Once that limit is 
over-reached, calamity is at hand. The 
real art of breeding is in holding to 
certain qualities, while you improve 
others, with the thought uppermost in 
your mind that it is not the perfect 
bird in one point that you are after, 
but rather, the well balanced one in all 
sections. There is one section in color 
to watch carefully and that is the tail. 
Try and have them all black—not 
splashed. This is a bad fault. Some¬ 
times main sides, when fully out, show 
some white at base, which is not over- 
serious and can be overcome in mating, 
but a splashy main tail feather should 
be avoided. 
Regarding leg color, I have always 
preferred them mottled; in fact, I be¬ 
lieve they make a more handsome 
bird. However, the Standard allows 
them to be either yellow, or yellow 
mottled with black. My experience 
has proven that good mottled leg fe¬ 
males can be produced from a mating 
of a clear yellow leg male bird with 
mottled leg females. This mating 
should produce an equal number of 
yellow, and yellow mottled with black. 
In order to produce all mottled leg 
specimens, it is necessary to have the 
mating consist of both mottled leg male 
and females. 
As far as the head points are con¬ 
cerned, we all know that the five equal 
serated points are desired in both male 
and females, and this should be held to 
as close as possible. A white lobe is 
asked for. In breeding for this, care 
should be taken not to run too strong 
on this particular point, for the reason 
that it may lead to white in the face, 
which is a disqualification in young 
birds. 
Summing up the entire proposition of 
mating Single Comb Anconas, it seems 
to me that if you carefully study the 
Standard of Perfection you cannot help 
but succeed. Furthermore, the Stan¬ 
dard bird as now given us makes one 
of the most handsome fowls in exist¬ 
ence today. 
ANCONA MATING 
(By Leo M. French) 
Here at Ancona Park, twenty females 
are used in a utility pen. Have had as 
many as thirty-one females in a pen, 
but that is very unusual. 
In mating exhibition pens one will 
be fortunate to find ten females out of 
several hundred that will be correct 
mates for a certain male. This season 
we have six exhibition pens mated, con¬ 
taining six, ten, eleven, five, six, and 
four females, respectively. If one used 
trap nests it would be alright to build 
these pens up to twenty, but it doesn’t 
appeal to me as a selling proposition, 
to select the correct matings and then 
throw in ten more just to get a lot of 
eggs or chicks to sell. Breed quality 
rather than quantity. 
If a breeder has two males alike ex¬ 
cept as to mottling,—one with one 
feather in five white-tipped, and the 
other four feathers in five white-tipped, 
use the latter bird. It is a slow way 
to arrive, to breed for white tips where 
there aren’t any. 
Size comes from well developed fe¬ 
males. I have bred a four-pound male 
to 4 l / 2 and 5-pound females and pro¬ 
duced six-pound cockerels. 
Correct the fault in male or female 
by using mates that are perfect, or 
more nearly perfect, in those faulty 
points. If I have a male that has too 
much slope to back, I mate females 
that are high and wide at cushion. 
I believe feed and care has a lot to 
do with size. Oats in any form are a 
frame builder. You get the size and 
you have the weight. A pullet must be 
well developed, and yearling or older 
birds should be helped through the 
moult with feather feeds. It is some 
trouble, but it pays, whether the birds 
are for breeders or layers. The secret 
of good fertility (if there is a secret) is 
proper care and feed of the stock at 
