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Breed Details:
Silver Appleyard Duck is a breed of domestic duck. In a 2000 census there were only 128 breeding Silver Appleyard Ducks reported in North America. Of five people breeding this variety in North America, only one had a primary breeding flock in excess of fifty individual, though it is a more common breed in the United Kingdom.
The breed is a larger, sturdily duck with a physique that is sometimes described as "blocky" and it has a prominent breast. When full grown it weighs between six and eight pounds.
Drakes of this breed have a yellow or greenish-colored bill which sometimes takes on a striated appearance when the duck is older. The drake has a chestnut red breast, flank, sides, and shoulders with white "frosting and lacing" and a "creamy or silvery white" underside. Drakes' wings are gray and white with a cross-stripe of bright blue. Their tail feathers are a dark bronze color. Feet and legs should be orange.
The Silver Appleyard Duck hen has a yellow or orange bill with a black "bean". Plumage is whitish with markings in various shades of brown and gray. Her legs are yellow or orange with dark toenails and she, like the drake, also has wings marked with a blue cross-stripe. The hen lays white eggs and is a prolific egg layer.
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I find my silver Appleyard to be a very good layer. The Silver Appleyard duck is very good and rounded breed. The eggs are nice and big are a creamy white two off white egg shell colour. The drakes in particular are a very stunning drakes. With the hens also being vary colorful. The Appleyard drakes weigh around 7 to 8 pounds , and can weigh even more. The drakes mature fast and are said to be a fine roasting and eating duck. The eyes of the Appleyard ducks are dark brown to Hazel Brown. The bill of an Appleyard should be yellow with a bit of black on the tip of there bill. Some strains of the Appleyard dock lay between 200 and 270 eggs a year with my strain averaging about 240 eggs per year. The Appleyard duck is one of duck breeds that I can gladly say our one of my favorites. This is because they are all around dual purpose breed that can fit every ones WishList. With their calm personality and their egg laying meat producing size , along with that they are a rare breed of duck , although they are coming back.
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