Dark phase silver appleyard ducklings? Or rouens?

[DuckDuckJuice]

Here is an update on her feathering. He quack says hen for sure. She is on the left.

They’re all so pretty! How does your Muscovy do with the other two? We’ve considered getting one, but weren’t sure about mixing Muscovies with mallard-derived types.

 

[EllieandOlive]

They’re all so pretty! How does your Muscovy do with the other two? We’ve considered getting one, but weren’t sure about mixing Muscovies with mallard-derived types.

I have had muscovys mixed with my other birds from day one. They've been wonderful! This set of three are inseperable. Our other muscovys keep to themselves but never cause issues with anyone. Honestly only my Blue Swedish/pekin cross drake is the bully and problem child. They don't cross mate at all, which has been nice.

 

[PatriciafromCO]

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

This page has a few images of dark phase Appleyard's, thats unfortunately all I can help with :'( I'm not quite sure how to tell any apart as ducklings. The ducks I raised were appleyards, I adored them, I wish you immense luck with these gorgeous babies!! <3

Thanks for the link both my males are the dark phase

 

[EmmaGRS]

After looking more at the third ducking picture (lighter leg color) and researching the difference between rouens and mallards, if said rouens have 2 eye stripes while mallards have I've, so assuming the lighter legged one is not a silver apple yard rare/dark phase, I'd assume mallard.

Does anyone agree/disagree?

Yes, the one with the single stripe is a mallard. I have both mallard and Rouen ducklings and that one looks like my mallard.

 

[Luv Ducks]

Yes, the one with the single stripe is a mallard. I have both mallard and Rouen ducklings and that one looks like my mallard.

I have Rouen hens that were mated with my Mallard Drake. Some are coming out with one stripe on one side of their face and two on the other, lol. It will be interesting to see how big they get. One is already huge and the other is still small so I think the big one will take after the Hen and the small one after the drake. There is three days difference in them and they are 3 weeks old but there is a huge difference in their size. Another hatched this morning and has a faint double stripe on its face but is very small. My Hens are not laying on them so I am hatching them out in a homemade incubator in my living room and dining room. I have two that I made. Good luck with yours and when they get grown you will know by the size for sure as the mallards are so much smaller than the rouens.

 

[duckmeister]

This is slightly confusing, lots of questions mixed in, but here goes! I ordered 3 silver appleyards from Metzer farms. One was a pre sexed female, and two were supposed to be straight runs. I also had two 'surprise mixed sex ducklings' in this order, so they don't come labeled.

The female (labeled) appleyard died the day they arrived...she was the only one that looked like an appleyard. I am getting her replaced...

So, I have these 3 unlabeled ducklings (out of 4 SR, the 4th is an obvious breed). Two should be SR appleyards and the third could be anything as it was a mixed surprise. To me, they all look like rouens/mallards.

I contacted the company for clarification on what type the mixed ducklings were and how to tell them apart from the appleyards as I wasn't familiar with this coloring of appleyards. They asked the owner of Metzer and he is sure these are silver appleyards that are a part of the 10% of the darker coloring that look like rouens.

Sooooo, if two of these are indeed dark phase appleyards, and the other is an unknown duckling, which 2 are appleyards and which 1 is a mallard/rouen/third surprise dark phase appleyard?

Did they give me a third dark phase or a rouen/mallard? Also, what does a dark phase appleyard look like as an adult? Apparently they account for 10% of offspring but I can't find any pictures anywhere! Will they breed mostly dark phase, or 90% light phase 10% dark like the standard appleyard?
And another thing, why, if they only count for 10%, did I get potentially 3 for 3 dark phases? Poor luck?

Know this thread is a few years old, but I recently had the same experience with the Metzer Farms Appleyards. Ordered 10 straight run Appleyards and 2 of them looked like Rouen colored, and actually I even thought they looked like a Muscovy/Rouen cross, complained to Metzer's and got a refund for 1 of them. But they grew up to look like Appleyard drakes. Owned Appleyards directly from Holderread's two decades ago, actually drove to Corvallis Oregon and picked them up at the farm. Back then the drake and hen ducklings were exactly the same color, no rouen colored drakes period. I believe Metzer's crossed the Appleyards with another breed because they had trouble getting good commercial hatch rates with the Holderread birds they purchased, I'd be curious to know what they crossed them with, they are slightly smaller and a more upright carriage than the Appleyards I used to have from holderreads.

 

[duckmeister]

Back when Holderread's sold Silver Appleyards, there was no such thing as a dark faze bird, but you could occasionally get a pure white duckling from Appleyard stock. Dave Holderread used to sell the white ones that were culls from his Appleyard breeders.