The Silver Appleyard is a “large, sturdily built duck” with a “blocky” physique and a prominent breast. When full grown it weighs between six and eight pounds.[14]
Drakes of this breed have a yellow or greenish-coloured bill which sometimes takes on a striated appearance when the duck is older. The drake has a chestnut red breast, flank, sides, and shoulders with white “frosting and lacing” and a “creamy or silvery white” underside. Drakes’ wings are grey and white with a cross-stripe of bright blue. Their tail feathers are a dark bronze colour. Feet and legs are orange.[7]
The Silver Appleyard hen has a yellow or orange bill with a black “bean”. Plumage is whitish with markings in various shades of brown and grey. Her legs are yellow or orange with dark toenails and she, like the drake, also has wings marked with a blue cross-stripe.[7]
The British Waterfowl Standards book lists criteria for an ideal example of this breed including (but not limited to) criteria such as:
- A well-rounded head feathered in iridescent green over brown black
- A slightly erect, alert and busy carriage
- A rump which is brown black with a slight iridescence, laced with white
- Legs that are set slightly back and well apart
- A medium length bill that is not wedge-shaped and that rises in a gentle curve to the brow
- Dark brown eyes
