[funkyfish]

We have a pair of large Silver Appleyard ducks. A really odd thing has happened. All out ducks have been moulting so it may have something to do with it, but I thought our Drake had gone missing, only to find 2 female looking ducks. One has a greeny orange bill and one an orange bill. Both sound female. No tail curl etc. The drake did have a part green head, darker body and dark tail feathers.


Have I gone mad???



Is this a weird mount, or have I had a total body replacement by the person who looks after them sometimes.

[roddycm]

Sounds like they went through their eclipse moult and are now in their non breeding plumage! This is normal and they will go back to more typical male colouring later on. All the mallard derived breeds do this, you're not going mad

[funkyfish]

Thank you!!! It literally happened overnight! That makes total sense with their mallard colour gene. As the days have stared to get shorter.

[HesterF]

Yep, completely normal. I have Silver Appleyards too and my main drake is currently hard to spot - also a quick change and more confusing because I have two young drakes too so am finding it hard to spot which is which. I got them in September last year and was confused having read the breed standard that the drake had no green head but it came back sure enough (can't remember when - later in the year/early this year??). The drakes do tend to be darker still but the ducks get darker and the drakes lighter so they tend to blend a bit.

H