Silver Appleyard Question:

[Darkjeweler]

This is to anyone else that has Appleyards.. Have you ever had females with green on their heads?

When I selected my Appleyard ducklings back in June, I was told I had one Drake (Darker Puffball with stripe around the eyes) and three Ducks (yellow puffballs with no eye markings). Now that they are 5 months old, the Drake is deffinately a Drake. He has great color and has almost a fully green head.. One of the girls is deffinately a girl and has a lighter head with freckles and no green. Now, the other two are in Question.. They have the lighter body coloring of the first girl however, their heads are getting a bit darker and are getting a bit of green in their head feathers.. (see below image link)

I would hate to think that I have 2 more Drakes in the mix. I already have too many Drakes to Hen ratio.


https://picasaweb.google.com/111792...authkey=Gv1sRgCKTuivCFndumiwE&feat=directlink

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Those are either snowy mallards, or welsh harlequins, but I would say welshies. And it looks like you have three boys and three girls?... I thought you said you only got 4?

 

[GrannyCarol]

First off, definitely Silver Appleyards, no worries there. However you do have three drakes and one duck. Dark or light baby fluff is NOT sex related, but just darker or lighter coloring. The lighter ones have better color, particularly in the hens. I've had dark hens that looked almost like Rouens, didn't like that at all. Silver Appleyard drakes should have a green head with white on their chins, a full neck ring and a nice red breast. They should be big, solid, broad birds. My SA ducklings were all wider than my Saxonys for instance and mature larger. The tail shouldn't be black, it looks like the left front drake has a black tail. I do like the one you are sure is a drake - it's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but look to see that there is some white on his chin. Mine have varied from a small amount of white to a noticeable amount - they came from a top breeder, so I assume they are up to standard. I'm afraid that hens do NOT get green heads though, only drakes.

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/Ducks/Apple/BRKApple.html

Here are a couple of pictures of my Silver Appleyards:

First at one week, in some mixed ducklings. The middle one with the stripe on its head is the SA:

Leo the Appleyard on the left, Khaki Campbell on the right (Leo was not fully feathered in yet):

You can double check the sexes by picking them up. Your duck will "QUACK!" loudly (unless she's so mellow she doesn't talk at all) and the drakes will rasp at you. By the time they color in like that, the voice should be obvious.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Im sorry, I forgot to add and say, maybe they were and I couldnt tell. They do look similar to welshies I think. They are beautiful....

 

[Darkjeweler]

Quote:
I was afraid of that.. If that is the case then I have a total of 5 ducks and 6 drakes.. Not a good ratio. None of the appleyards are laying yet. My appleyards don't make much noise when I pick them up. They have been handled almost daily since I got them as ducklings.

Well, I talked with the guy I got them from and he has said he would make it right by giving me another 3 girls. I told him it could wait till spring. I already have 11 I don't need to be feeding any more right now.. lol..

I suppose a couple of drakes are destined for the soup pot eventually.

 

[GrannyCarol]

The extra drakes will be great as roasted duckling this fall. I rather like your most colored one from the two pictures. They could be sent to freezer camp any time and save you the over wintering. Just check to be sure they aren't growing any new chest feathers, that makes it the bear to pluck. To my mind the SA are one of the best meat breeds, I haven't raised Pekins, so don't know about them, or Muscovies (those two are highly thought of). Be aware though, the SA are slow to develop - I wouldn't expect eggs until spring or fertility until later in the spring when they are a year old. Those big breed boys are a bit slow. I find that one SA drake is going to breed 2 - 3 hens, btw. This is my experience, limited to one bloodline. BTW, where are you located? Come spring I may be interested in hatching eggs if you have them (or your friend). What bloodlines do you have?

Unfortunately you can't sex Silver Appleyards by color, as you now know! If your supplier can vent sex them, that is good. My SA ducks are generally pretty quiet, I have to admit.

 

[rainy day ducks]

GrannyCarol is correct. You only have one Silver Appleyard duck the rest are drakes. Last year I had 5 Silver Appleyard drakes that I could not keep. I gave them to friends to eat. I have been told that their meat is restaurant quality. I named some of them and was not keen on eating them.

I love Silver Appleyards! They are some of my friendliest ducks. I currently have one SA drake (Pip) and six SA ducks (Eliza, Daisy, Beezus, Ramona, Lucy, and Bess). I also have 3 Saxony drakes (only one named Puck the other two are meat), one Saxony duck (Anthea), 2 Cayuga ducks (Elphaba and Scout), 2 Welsh Harlequin drakes (meat), 2 Welsh Harlequin ducks (Veruca and Nellie), 1 Dutch Hookbill drake (Santiago), and 3 Dutch Hookbill ducks (Esmeralda, Penelope, and Helena). The Saxonys, WH, and Hookbills are also quite friendly but not as friendly as the SA.

I hope you enjoy these incredible ducks!

 

[rainy day ducks]

One more thing...

You likely will not get any eggs until the ducks reach 25 to 30 weeks. That is when they have started to lay for me. I also gave them 15 hours of light and the correct nutrition. Silver Appleyard eggs are the best duck eggs I have come by.

 

[Darkjeweler]

Quote:
Well, these are my first ducks ever and I have given them all names and they are very friendly which makes it difficult to cull them. I am not sure how to separate the extra drakes from the rest of the flock without the rest looking at me funny when the removed ducks never come back.. lol..

I don't think plucking is going to be an issue. I plan on skinning, and not having to worry about the feathers.

I am near Raleigh, NC. As far as which line they are from, darn if I know.. It was not a question I ever thought of asking. I suppose I will try to remember to ask next time I talk with the breeder.

 

[GrannyCarol]

I have an extra pen for the drakes I keep that I can't currently run with the main flock for one reason or another. I totally understand the pet thing, I'm sure I have quite a few ducks that have no purpose except to be enjoyed.

You won't really be able to leave all the boys with all the girls, but, if you separate a couple out, they will be fine together (esp. if they were raised together). When I do put my boys back with girls for breeding, they are all fine too. It's more work, but you do have to protect the girls from overbreeding.