The Ancona is original a variety from the common Italian fowl, where they have been pure bred for centuries. It is a Mediterranean breed. The colour was black with white and a little brown/red. The legs are yellow with black spots. They came original from the region of the Marches, the province of Ancona and a town with this name, in mid east of Italy. the climate in this area is very diversified. From much below zero in the mountain regions to very warm in the hot season. So the Ancon is original a breed of all weather conditions. Nu doubt this accounts for the extreme hardiness of the Ancona fowls and their adaptability to the varied climates later in the USA and Canada.
So the name of this poultry could also be the fowl Marchegiana. But we call this beautiful Poultry already 160 years the ANCONA.
The were imported from the Italian port city Ancona at the Adriatic Sea in 1848 to England. In England the Ancona was improved and exhibited in 1851. After that time the Ancona got a standard look like. The black colour is dominating. They became famous for legging eggs in hard conditions and became good business. The Ancona was combinating this high production with a beautiful look like. Than they went all over the world. In 1888 to the United States of America. In 1902 to South Africa. In 1900 to Australia. In that years the became known in Belgium and the Netherlands. Because of the victory of laying many white eggs.
It is the result of many crossings. The type is the same as a not so big American Leghorn. But the typical colour is dominating black with pure white at the end of most feathers. Every big feather should have a clear white tip, with the shape of a V and only at the end. The little feathers also a very clear white tip at the end or complete black. A small sharply defined white tipping on a pure black feather. Not dark grey but black. The size of the white tipping should be proportionate to the width of the feather. The total effect is an very even tipping on the whole body. An even tipping is more important than the exact number of feathers with a tip. The shining on the black colour is beetle green, not violet. Under-colour should be dark.
So the English started with the standard Ancona, but the American finished this standard as the example we wish nowadays.
The American finished this kind of fowl. The single comb Ancona was admitted in the American Standard of Perfection in 1898. The rose comb in 1914.
Cock 2,7 kg Cockerel 2,5 kg Hen 2,25 kg Pullet 2.0 kg
A radical change was made in the American Standard of Perfection in for Ancona's 1923. this was done at the request of leading Ancona breeders and The United Ancona Club, to keep pace with the improvement and advancement of the breed during the past few years.
Roy W. Van Hoesen started direct after the year 1900 with breeding. He was editing and publishing an exclusively Ancona magazine since 1910 and serving as secretary of the Ancona Club since its organization.
H. Cecil Sheppard in Berea Ohio started in 1906 with good Ancona's from England. Sheppard improved this fowl to a very high production. He also created very beautiful Ancona's. Wherever Ancona's became known they excited much admiration by their pronounced beauty, alertness, quick development, and remarkable egg production, and soon a larger and comprehensive treatise on the breed was urgently called for. They became famous in the exhibition in the old Madison Square Garden in New York. Sheppard became the leading breeder in the region and famous all over the world. He earned with the Ancona a very good income in that days. In 1922 he bought a farm. In one year he raised 18.000 chickens. His income grew to 10.000 dollar. The Ancona became one of the leaders in that great industry on commercial farms. For over 40 years he have been building up the rich quality in Sheppard 's Famous Anconas.
Sheppard was the Ancona King. He sold and send them by aeroplane all over the world.
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