Ancona

Description

The Ancona is an Italian breed of chicken. It is named after the city and province of Ancona, in the Marche region of Italy, but was bred to its present type mainly in the United Kingdom in the nineteenth century.

Ancona Country of origin – Italy; United Kingdom

Use – eggs

Weight

Male:

2.5–2.8 kg (5.5–6 lb)

Female:

1.8–2.1 kg (4–4.5 lb)

Skin colour – yellow

Egg colour – white

Comb type – single or rose

Classification – APA

In 2025 its conservation status world-wide was “at risk”, with few more than 800 birds reported – most of them in Australia. In Italy numbers are very low; an initiative to re-establish the breed in its native area and to preserve its biodiversity was launched in 2000. There is also an Ancona bantam.

The Ancona originated in central Italy, where it was the breed of chicken with the widest distribution. Some birds were exported in 1851 to England, where they were selectively bred for regularity and consistency of the white markings in the plumage. In 1880 a breeder named Cobb showed a group. Some were exported from Britain to the United States in 1888. Rose-combed Ancona chickens were first shown in Birmingham, in the West Midlands, in 1910.

The single-combed Ancona was recognised by the American Poultry Association in 1898, and the rose-combed variant in 1914.

The Ancona is a good layer of white eggs, of which it lays an average of 220 per year; the eggs weigh 50 g (2 oz) or more. Hens have little tendency to broodiness; pullets may begin to lay at five months old.