Silver Appleyard Duckling with Dark Bill

[Reptarro]

I have a mixed flock - 1 x buff orpington, 1 x peach campbell, 2 x cayugas, 1 x aylesbury and 2 x silver appleyards.
I have to say (shush.....don';t tell the others) that my 2 silver appleyards are by far my favourites. They have such characters and are the most friendliest ducks ever. Whatever their markings are you are going to love them.

My Appleyards I think never imprinted on me and did on each other. They do as they please and come home as they please. I love watching them interact but only one will let me hold him. My two cayugas I got at the farm supply follow me everywhere, sit by my feet, and are quiet and content when I hold them. They’re only 2 weeks though.

 

[Animalfan]

I just got 4 straight run Silver Appleyard ducklings (about 2 weeks old) but Im not sure which ones are Boys and which ones are girls. Does anyone know how to figure out there gender? Here’s a photo Of two of them.

 

[mudslingger77]

We have Silver Appleyard as well we got last year. We decided to order more to add to our flock since we haven't had any luck hatching out yet. We got about 6 more and 2 of them came out almost all white with minimal coloring one of which has a dark almost black bill. We were curious about this as well, we though maybe the hatchery sent us a mixed duck or maybe a different breed.

 

[AnonAMauze]

I have a large mixed flock, my oldest ones are a female Mallard, a female buff, a male buff, and a male Pekin. We kept three of what they hatched last year: a female buff colored, a male mixed buff/mallard coloring (he's very pretty ) and a male Mallard colored. We have added new ducklings this year since we had too many males and ordered all females from a hatchery: three Khaki Campbell, two Black Swedish, and two Silver Appleyard. At the same time we also ordered a trio of Embden geese: two females and one male. We sadly lost one of the females to being trampled by the other little ones in the brooder, so we are left with just one pair. But I have the same issue: one of my Silver Appleyards has a bill that is dark gray, nearly black in color. Regardless of whether it's male or female I'll be happy though. If it turns out to be male I can just separate the pair next year and hatch pure Appleyards!

 

[MJLindsey]

Hi all! I have recently branched out to raising ducks in addition to my chickens. I have 3 adult Silver Appleyard ducks that I received from a friend who was relocating. She thought she was giving me 2 girls and a drake, but when one of the girl's head turned green a couple weeks later it was evident that I had a very poor drake to duck ratio. I chose to solve the problem by getting 4 sexed females from a hatchery. They're 7 weeks old now and they're all beautiful and vigorous and loud and smelly, so they're just perfect! One of the 4 has a dark brown bill, though. I've searched around and I can't find any reference to this. The other girls have the expected yellow bill with a dark bean. Does anyone know anything about this? If it's a genetic quirk then I will just avoid hatching out any of her eggs in the future, but if it's a sign of illness or something more sinister than that I want to know. She is otherwise identical to her sisters in size, shape, coloration, activity level, etc. so I'm not worried, per se, just curious. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or wisdom!View attachment 2084723View attachment 2084724View attachment 2084725

I know this is an old post, but did the Appleyard with the dark bill end up being a male?

Hi all! I have recently branched out to raising ducks in addition to my chickens. I have 3 adult Silver Appleyard ducks that I received from a friend who was relocating. She thought she was giving me 2 girls and a drake, but when one of the girl's head turned green a couple weeks later it was evident that I had a very poor drake to duck ratio. I chose to solve the problem by getting 4 sexed females from a hatchery. They're 7 weeks old now and they're all beautiful and vigorous and loud and smelly, so they're just perfect! One of the 4 has a dark brown bill, though. I've searched around and I can't find any reference to this. The other girls have the expected yellow bill with a dark bean. Does anyone know anything about this? If it's a genetic quirk then I will just avoid hatching out any of her eggs in the future, but if it's a sign of illness or something more sinister than that I want to know. She is otherwise identical to her sisters in size, shape, coloration, activity level, etc. so I'm not worried, per se, just curious. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or wisdom!View attachment 2084723View attachment 2084724View attachment 2084725

I know this is an old post, but did that Appleyard with the dark bill turn out to be a drake? It looks like a drake because it's developing the dark "hood." Thanks. You'll help me resolve an issue I'm discussing with someone.

 

[MJ944]

I know this is an old post, but did the Appleyard with the dark bill end up being a male?

I know this is an old post, but did that Appleyard with the dark bill turn out to be a drake? It looks like a drake because it's developing the dark "hood." Thanks. You'll help me resolve an issue I'm discussing with someone.

I know this is an old post, but did the Appleyard with the dark bill end up being a male?

I know this is an old post, but did that Appleyard with the dark bill turn out to be a drake? It looks like a drake because it's developing the dark "hood." Thanks. You'll help me resolve an issue I'm discussing with someone.

We have 2 female Silver Appleyards, one has the orange beak the other has a grey beak, otherwise they look the same. For our males they all have yellow beaks. One was very dark as a duckling including a grey beak but the beak lightened to yellow and he has developed the most color of all of them. He has a rich green colored head with the blue wing stripe. However, one of our ducklings was all yellow and upon maturing failed to develop the greenish head (light grey instead) and no colored wing stripe.

 

[MJ944]

We have 2 female Silver Appleyards, one has the orange beak the other has a grey beak, otherwise they look the same. For our males they all have yellow beaks. One was very dark as a duckling including a grey beak but the beak lightened to yellow and he has developed the most color of all of them. He has a rich green colored head with the blue wing stripe. However, one of our ducklings was all yellow and upon maturing failed to develop the greenish head (light grey instead) and no colored wing stripe.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Beautiful ducks

 

[Elissavi]

Hi all! I have recently branched out to raising ducks in addition to my chickens. I have 3 adult Silver Appleyard ducks that I received from a friend who was relocating. She thought she was giving me 2 girls and a drake, but when one of the girl's head turned green a couple weeks later it was evident that I had a very poor drake to duck ratio. I chose to solve the problem by getting 4 sexed females from a hatchery. They're 7 weeks old now and they're all beautiful and vigorous and loud and smelly, so they're just perfect! One of the 4 has a dark brown bill, though. I've searched around and I can't find any reference to this. The other girls have the expected yellow bill with a dark bean. Does anyone know anything about this? If it's a genetic quirk then I will just avoid hatching out any of her eggs in the future, but if it's a sign of illness or something more sinister than that I want to know. She is otherwise identical to her sisters in size, shape, coloration, activity level, etc. so I'm not worried, per se, just curious. Thanks in advance for any thoughts or wisdom!View attachment 2084723View attachment 2084724View attachment 2084725

I have the same question! Mine looks exactly like yours with the darker bill and was sexed as female. She’s 7 months old and has not started laying yet. Is this normal for a female Silver Appleyard?