Silver Appleyard Duck – Awesome For Eggs And Meat

While the popularity of the Silver Appleyard duck (sometimes known as the Appleyard duck) has dwindled in recent years, this bird is easily one of the best words for backyard duck owners who want one of the most productive duck breeds out there. It is the best duck for eggs and meat.

Let’s take a little look at this breed in some more depth, shall we?

Appleyard Duck Facts at a Glance

Eggs	200 – 265 eggs per year
Egg shell color	White
Size	Male: 8 lb Female: 6 lb
Foraging	Good
Temperament	Calm
Status	Common
Origin	England

Where Do Silver Appleyard Duck Come From?

As with many of the most-popular duck breeds in US nowadays, the Silver Appleyard duck began life in England. It was actually created by a prolific bird breeder; Reginald Appleyard.

This guy had also developed a number of major chicken breeds too, so he was no stranger to knowing exactly what people wanted.

Reginald Appleyard worked on the development of his breed from the 1930s all the way through to the 1980s. However, the duck wasn’t really known around that time.

It wasn’t until after his death, and the continued development of the breed, that it became recognized as an official breed of duck.

To be honest, the breeders put a lot of quality effort into creating this brilliant breed. As a result (and as you are about to discover), this is probably the best dual-purpose breed of ducks that you can raise. However, more on that in a short while.

The Look of the Duck

The look of the Appleyard Duck isn’t that different from the Mallard. However, it is going to be a slightly heavier bird. It also has slightly larger breasts, which are incredibly prominent on this breed of duck.

The head of the duck is mostly green, with a touch of black thrown in for good measure. The body of the duck is mostly white, with a bit of color added in for good measure.

The brilliant thing about the coloring of this duck is that there isn’t really any standardization with it. It is a breed that makes it incredibly simple to differentiate between various ducks in your flock.

The Meat of the Duck

This duck grows incredibly fast. In fact, it should be table ready by the time it hits 9-weeks old. So, if you can get a decent breeding flock going, then you should always have some drakes that are ready for the table.

At 9-weeks old, the duck is going to weigh 6-7 lb, which is massive for a duck. So, you have more than enough to tuck into for a whole family with a single duck.

The taste of the duck isn’t that different from most other ducks. So, do not expect something that will completely blow your mind when you tuck into a Silver Appleyard duck.

However, it is ‘good enough’, and this is one of the main reasons as to why this breed has been raised as a meat duck breed.

The Silver Appleyard Duck Eggs

When it comes to eggs, you have a pretty prolific duck. In fact, you should be getting somewhere between 200 and 265 white eggs per year with the Silver Appleyard Duck.

This is far better than average. So, if you want a duck that can produce a ton of quality eggs throughout the year, then this breed is perfect for you. It can even lay them during the winter months, although production will slow down then.

As a Show Duck

The Silver Appleyard Duck used to regularly be shown around the world, although most of the shows were in the United Kingdom and the United States.

However, shows for this duck seems to have fallen off in recent years. However, this is no doubt down to the fact that the breed has become critically endangered.

We really have no idea if there is any hope of recovery with this duck breed.

Are Silver Appleyard Ducks Friendly?

This is a friendly duck breed with very calm personality, but it mostly keeps itself to itself. It is a social duck, but it tends to be more social with other ducks than with humans.

This is a breed that seems to do better in far larger flocks. We suppose that if you feed them by hand from a young age they tend to be a bit more trustworthy of you but, even then, this is not a breed that is going to interact with humans anywhere near as much as a ton of other duck breeds out there.

Do Silver Appleyard Duck Fly?

Since it is a heavier duck, it doesn’t move around all that much. In fact, it isn’t a massive fan of flying.

This means that you do not really need to worry about the bird escaping from your yard. If it does wander, it always returns. We can imagine it must get pretty uncomfortable for the breed to be flying about constantly!

In short, they make great choice for small flock owners.

Care Tips

One of the wonderful things about this breed of duck is the fact that it is surprisingly easy to take care of. As we said before; this is a duck that is going to do incredibly well when you have it in flocks.

Obviously, since it is a larger breed of duck, the main care tip that we can give you here is to make sure that you have a lot of space for your ducks. You will likely need a few of them if you want to increase the happiness of your bird.

The only other things that you will need to think about is your duck having a decent diet. Since this is a very fast growing duck, you want to make sure that it does not overeat.

This is a duck that loves to forage and, if you are not careful, it is going to be putting on a ton of weight. This can knock back egg production. So, try to keep an eye on the amount of food that your duck is eating.

Do not necessarily cut off their food supply, but try to make sure that they do not eat all that much. Certainly cut back on the protein-laden products if they tend to be foraging a lot.

Related articles:
– Cayuga Duck
– Rouen Duck