Silver Appleyards

[TJAnonymous]

I received 3 Silver Appleyard ducks from a show breeder. One male. Two females. I got them pretty cheap ($10/bird) because they have minor "flaws" in their coloring that doesn't make them good for showing. Personally, I could care less. I don't show. I just wanted them because I had two Pekins and wanted to increase the male-to-female ratio. But they are very pretty birds. I was wondering if anyone else has Silver Appleyards and can tell me whether the females tend to be broody or not? I'm considering letting the females hatch out some eggs or maybe incubating some eggs if they aren't broody.

 

[3bird]

We keep silver Appeyards and have found them to be broody. Two of our five girls display pretty intense broody behavior, especially in the summer.

We may be biased, but silver Appleyards are the absolute best!

 

[TJAnonymous]

We keep silver Appeyards and have found them to be broody. Two of our five girls display pretty intense broody behavior, especially in the summer.

We may be biased, but silver Appleyards are the absolute best!

That's EXACTLY what I wanted to hear... Right now I have 4 Pekins (1 male, 3 female) and 3 Silver Appleyard (1 male, 2 female). I think we are going to cull the Pekin male in the next month or so....to try to keep them from fighting. I wish I didn't have to do that, but I'd feel TERRIBLE if one of them killed the other or one of the females.

I'd really love to hatch some more SA over the summer to modestly increase the birds. I think I like them better than the Pekin because I can easily tell male from female! I can always get another trio from the breeder too. This is my first time with ducks so I'm not really sure what to expect....

 

[TJAnonymous]

I just thought of another question.... Where do your ducks "brood"? In their coop? If not, do you move them and their eggs into a secured place? How do you keep them safe while they are brooding?

 

[3bird]

In our experience, a two drake to five hen ratio can work--it's right at the edge in our experience. While our boys did tussle sometimes, they never hurt each other and we never had to separate them. The larger concern for us was the male to female ratio. We currently have five hens and one drake, and that works fine except April to August. During that period, we need to manage them pretty closely to give any girl that is being picked on a break.

Our girls have always brooded in the duckhouse. We have two girls who often share a nest and brooding duty. I'm not sure how common that is.