Silver Appleyard: The BEST Duck!

[@JRAinKY]

This was so encouraging. We are getting our first small flock of ducks in just a couple of weeks. We also decided to go with Silver Appleyards. We wanted a good dual purpose duck and one that is very good at foraging and mild in temperament. We are getting five females and one male and hope to grow the flock over time in order to provide a steady supply of eggs and meat for ourselves and farmers market customers, as well as provide ducklings to others in our area who would like to raise this breed. Great video!

[@KCFarms]

Thanks we love the breed and they lay very well for a dual purpose breed. I’m sure you will enjoy them. Thanks for following along!!

[@amandaquincypennington3888]

Silver apple yards all the way! Just starting but I love my ducklings!!

[@chick_engalfarm8246]

We love the silver apple duck. I'm waiting on a shipment now of new hatchlings from Metzer farms to come in the mail. We had two a boy and a girl but Coyote came one day while I was at work

[@KCFarms]

Eh that’s a bummer. They are a great duck. I love that they are fairly easy going and not skittish

[@numberoneduno7265]

Got 2 ducks from Tractor Supply. We’ve been wondering what breed they were, and I think you helped us solve the mystery! Many thanks!

[@elijahsanders3547]

Thank you so much for kinda doing a whole day with them, I was hoping to see how you put them up. How did you train them to go in their house? Have the chickens ever gone in with them?

[@antonellapavez5894]

hello if next to a male silver appleyard duck with a female pekin the offspring will come out of breed silver appleyard oh pekin?

[@noahriding5780]

Are silver appleyard hens bigger than wealth harlequinn hens? I've done welsh and they are pretty and good egg producers but the hens have no carcass size at all. (I don't slaughter hens since that's a waste but it can be something to think about still). I'm a bit curious how much of their daily food you can push from foraging, in terms of a percentage? It looks like you are really putting them to work.

[@scottlepak7068]

Another great video! Your ducks are gorgeous! I have a variety of different duck breeds and varieties, because my duck math is just about as bad as my chicken math (I have a variety of pigeons as well, and a few geese... might as well just call it poultry math with me). My ducks are primarily for eggs as well as breeding/showing. I also don't have a strict "they are livestock" policy, so they are also definitely all treated as pets, and none of them are for meat. Currently my main breeding focus is on Runners (mostly in gray (wild mallard color), but also working on blue fawn/pastel and nutmeg). I also have Welsh Harlequins (silver), Exhibition Rouens (again in gray and working on blue fawn/pastel), "wild" Mallards (in gray, snowy, silver, and black/blue bibbed), and several other mixed breed pets. I wouldn't mind possibly adding a few Appleyards as well someday, they are beautiful. I think most of your adults actually look pretty decent as far as the breed standard is concerned. I think one of your drakes might be a dark phase (I'm just guessing since I didn't see him as a duckling, but he looks darker than the other drake), and at least one of the hens looks like she might have brown dilution going on (which I've never seen in an Appleyard before, but it's really pretty). Of course none of that is really important if you are just breeding for utility. As long as they are healthy, happy ducks and are making you happy and meeting your needs that's all that matters. I love my mutts/non standard ducks just as much as the purebreds. Keep up the great work! I look forward to your next video.

[@KCFarms]

Awesome thanks for the info. Yes one of the drakes is dark phase we have him banded. Would love to try runners one day. Are they decent layers?

[@scottlepak7068]

@@KCFarms Runners should ideally be very good layers as that is an important breed characteristic and their primary original purpose. In fact, Runners are ancestral to many of the other light and medium sized duck breeds, including Campbells, which are known for their superb laying as well. I suspect how well they lay will vary a bit between bloodlines and between individuals, but I'd expect most well bred runners to easily lay well over 200 eggs a year. My ducks don't get any artificial lighting, and our winters in Wisconsin can be very cold and harsh, so I don't get very many eggs at all in winter, but through most of the spring, summer, and autumn, my runners (and many of my other ducks) are all laying pretty much daily. I would highly recommend runners for egg production, plus they are just fun to watch. Of course, not much on them as far as meat, so they wouldn't be as much for dual purpose like your Appleyards, but I'd still say at least a few runners would be worth it. :)

[@conniestilwell4545]

If you have an incubator you can buy silver appleyard eggs on eBay. I did this. I love their colors. They are also listed as a threatened breed so the more people that have them the better.

[@ClemensTiffany]

Thank you for sharing. I have been wanting to order some Appleyards from Metzer. I am in Upstate SC which isn't too far from TN. So I am curious, how did yours do with the shipping process?

[@KCFarms]

Ours did great with shipping but they seem to be hardier than baby chicks

[@chick_engalfarm8246]

We just ordered some silver Apple yards they don't really come from Tennessee they come from California but the first time we got them it was 2 days and the second day it was 3 days to get to our house

[@barbaracyrus1421]

Great video love your duck coops . The ducklings 🐥 are so darn cute 😍

[@KCFarms]

Thank you appreciate you following along!

[@dbales8288]

I currently have Golden Cascade ducks and have been in contact with a Silver Appleyard breeder to get some Appleyards this year. Looking for a larger breed for meat.

[@KCFarms]

They are definitely big enough for meat. I’ve never heard of the golden cascades I’ll have to check them out

[@HTSfarm]

We’ve got Muscovy and have had Runners, Ancona,Welsh Harlequin,Swedish and Khakis but I’ve never heard of the Silver Appleyard.

[@KCFarms]

We thought about adding runners but just really like the appleyards

[@HTSfarm]

@@KCFarms just got some new runners all males just to work our border collies to change things up from working our goats. So far the Muscovy have worked best for us in terms of lots of meat and good egg production. They go broody like crazy though.

[@rjdiaz9551]

Have you lost any ducks to hawks? Your open pasture seems to inviting . Liked your video.

[@KCFarms]

Haven’t yet

[@guasaaaa9560]

What if I put together a magpie duck with the silver appleyard breed good layers?

[@CardBoardBoxPro]

Do you ever have issues with Drakes going after chickens? I heard Malard-related ducks can cause issues to chickens due to differing anatomies.

[@KCFarms]

We haven’t had them together so I’m not sure on that one

[@stephendove7447]

Do you recommend this breed ? I'm trying to decide

[@KCFarms]

Love this breed! They lay a lot of eggs and are also a good size if you plan on eating them. We got rid of ours only because they were older and kept getting in the garage and pooping. Definitely would get them again

[@stephendove7447]

@@KCFarms thanks so much..I really appreciate it.

[@christopherw4527]

First duck video I've seen with gangster pimp music.😛

[@frogbog5215]

we just got 8 ducklings yesterday :) 3 black swedish ducks, 2 blue swedish ducks, a rouen, what i believe is silver appleyard, and what i believe is a pekin

[@KCFarms]

Awesome congratulations

[@claus3498]

Do you sell your silver Apple yard ducklings? We would be interested in purchasing 1 male and 4 females . Thank you Dan & Claus

[@KCFarms]

All we have now are khaki campbells

[@claus3498]

Ok thank you, will have any apple yards soon?

[@mikevickers4727]

Thx for the vid. I bought 7 unsexed SAs 10-12wks ago from an SA breeder, now very close to full feather, but there seems to be a lot of 'opinions' on the net about SAs gender points; Bean & bill colors (all 7 have blk beans), sound of their quacks (only 1 is actually quacking on occasion) but being completely inexperienced I don't know a clear from a rasp 😜 Looking forward to following your vids

[@KCFarms]

Yeah definitely hard to tell for me when they are you. But congrats you’ll enjoy them

[@davidsims7796]

Where do you get your live ducks?

[@KCFarms]

We got ours from metzer farms online

[@LuisReyes-qq8vu]

hello !! greetings from Bolivia well ...let me tell you that we live in a Farm with other 4 families .. one family takes care of the sheep the other of the hens and the other of the cattle .. my family and me we have our own animals .. we have 3 bunnies 3 hens 2 baby chicken and 2 Rouen ducks oh and 4 Wilde duckies we rescue ..... all them sleep in the chicken coop toguether but the Rouen ducks , do you have any tips of advise for me ? I will appreciate it!

[@KCFarms]

Hello thanks for following along what kind of tips are you looking for?

[@jimgilbert9984]

Have you considered getting a couple of geese? Before turkeys were discovered and taken to Europe by the colonists, geese were bird for holiday eating. They do tend to be noisy, though. One breed (I can't remember which right now) was used as watchdogs because they'd raise a ruckus whenever anyone or anything they weren't familiar with came around. Geese forage, too, but mostly for weeds, not so much for bugs.

[@danielboggan2479]

It was probably the Roman geese that was the watchdog. One of the oldest stories we have about Ancient Rome is when some geese manages to save the city from being destroyed after a watchman fell asleep but the spies startled the geese in a fountain at a nearby temple.

[@stephendove7447]

Do you sale them?

[@victorpoy7899]

BUENOS DIAS < MUY BUEN CUIDADOS TU PATOS DIOS LOS BENDIGAS.

[@finallyfriday.]

I love those ducks. I wish I was rich enough to own many farms (KC FarmS) so I could get some. I only own one farm.

[@KCFarms]

One is enough

[@finallyfriday.]

🙂😄

[@roblena7977]

The biggest regret was getting ducks unprepared. Second biggest regret not keeping up with them and selling them. Damn they were such good company always following me and had something to say.

[@ronmetz9172]

Miss small appears to be the social butterfly of KC Farms. I couldn’t believe a fox was eating the duck food and not going after the ducks!

[@KCFarms]

Yeah she comes and goes as she pleases. It was pretty crazy didn’t even mess with the ducks and they were right by the fox

[@lokeyacolyte2145]

I am going to get a flock as soon as I can, and I am almost totally decided on the silver appleyards and the Indian runners! Both great egg layers, good temperament and don't seem to need a pond though of course they do like it!

[@barefootwildflowers3209]

My runner duck just hatched a clutch.

[@erichthepantherausfh7465]

We used to have 2 Silver apple yard drakes and a saxony hen. They were such great family pets and we used to go pet the apple yards and they would hang out with us. Sadly- our pet dogs got along of them one at a time and it was sad to see them go. The eldest silver apple yard was the sole survivor for 2 years till we got our mastidor puppy. Would get more silver apple yard ducks again, 100%

[@KCFarms]

I like them way better than our khaki campbells but they are almost to nice. Hey always want to lay on my concrete and poop and they don’t scare easily. Haha

[@MarioLopez-ob5rv]

Ducks could fly. Does your Ducks do that too?

[@Harry-transitOFFICAL]

.

[@noahriding5780]

Ducks to cook them people make a lot of mistakes. I thought I'd send you this tip on them. Because if you don't do it right your family may end up programmed to hate duck meat. If people cook a duck wrong they'll think they taste like garbage. Since they are high fat and water fowl you have to cook them hot enough to melt the fat. If you don't have the heat up enough to roast them right then this will make them taste gross.

[@evacole5631]

Что будет с Россией после всех санкций?! Бедный народ станет еще беднее, пока Путин сидит на своих миллионах и отдает приказ убивать наших сыновей и мужей!

[@johnnyt03gt]

Honestly I can’t see how and why would you raise these little beautiful ducks from babies just to kill them. Reminds of the Donner family when they got stuck open the snowy mountains 1800s they ran out of food so they started with the horses when they ran out of horse meat. They ate their children because their stomach being full is more important than everything else they call it Donner pass now.

[@critter4662]

LMAO WHAT?!?!

[@gabriellegibby3293]

Nobody tell this guy how ducks make ducklings