The Trouble with Anconas

Three Anconas and an Ancona/Leghorn cross

I have 12 hens this year that are excellent egg layers. They are mostly Anconas, which I've told you about before. They are an old breed that was used for commercial egg production before the Leghorn was turned into a robot egg laying machine. Unlike Leghorns, Anconas still retain a lot of natural chicken characteristics. That makes them healthy, strong and hardy.

It also makes them a pain in the neck. I let them out to enjoy the sunshine and a few springs of spring grass this week. And this is how they thanked me.

The darned little pigs tore up my flower beds. They uprooted the poor tulip bulbs that I've already had to replant 3 times because raccoons kept digging them up. They kicked big pieces of bark as far as they could fling them.

And when they ran out of things to destroy in the yard, a couple of them flew over the fence and ran around out where the coyote could get them. If it could catch them.

They all wandered back into their pen at dusk, unharmed. It took me quite a while to repair the damage they'd done. Next time I'll just let the little Leghorn hen out.

She's the one that broke her leg last year and I kept her in the house for a couple of months in a cast. She doesn't mess things up, she just hangs around my feet waiting for treats. She looks ratty because she still hasn't molted. The rooster did not mess up her feathers, she's done that herself. I'd make her a little jacket to wear but the Anconas that share the pen with her would probably rip it up for something to do. I need to go down by the creek where the old pumpkins were dumped and get them a nice big one to destroy.