Silver Appleyard

Silver Appleyard

History: Reginald Appleyard was a skilled poultry breeder with a project for a great all-round utility and farmyard duck. He aimed for a beautiful breed of duck, with a “combination of beauty, size, lots of big white eggs, white skin, and deep, long, wide breasts.”

He achieved his goal, but died before submitting a standard. Nevertheless, he produced birds that won at shows and ducklings ready for the table by nine weeks old at 6.5 lb. (3 kg), cold and plucked. Artist E. G. Wippell painted a fine pair of his birds in 1947 which became an important guide for a standard. Appleyard also developed a Miniature Silver Appleyard in the 1940s from mating a White Call with a small Khaki Campbell duck.

After 1945, the original line declined due to lack of interest in duck breeds. In the 1970s, Tom Bartlett in Gloucester, England, was largely responsible for recreating and popularizing the breed. He bought birds from market with the desired traits and selectively bred them to resemble Wippell’s painting.

As a result, the British Waterfowl Association accepted this standard in 1982. Bartlett also developed a miniature version in the 1980s, first shown at the British Waterfowl Association Champion Waterfowl Exhibition in 1987. The Miniature Silver Appleyard duck was standardized by 1997, and is approximately a third of the weight of the large breed. Appleyard’s Miniature Silver Appleyard duck was reclassified as the “Silver Bantam” in the UK.

The Silver Appleyard breed was developed by Reginald Appleyard of England in the 1930’s. Among the heavy weight ducks, Silver Appleyards and the Saxony Ducks are considered the most active foragers.

The Silver Appleyard Duck is easy going, fun and easy to manage in small or large flocks. They grow very rapidly, lay very well and make a good choice for a dual-purpose domestic duck. Some have claimed they laid 200-270 eggs in a full 12 month span. The breed originated from the 1930’s by Reginald Appleyard, a well-known breeder in England. The Silver Appleyard duck was brought into the USA in the late 1960’s and become better known and shown in the 1980’s which lead them to be accepted into the American Poultry Standard of Perfection in 1998.

They are bred for egg and meat production and will go broody eventually and can raise a clutch of 8-12 ducklings easily. Females can have a lot of variations in color, which allows for easy identification of individuals within the flock. The female Appleyards could be described as lighter-colored mallards. They have a lot of silver white in their face, neck and breast and dramatic feathers with dark stippling over tan on their shoulders and wings.