Telling Cayuga ducks apart

[neetabeamie]

Can you tell your Cayuga ducks apart from each other?
Also about how many eggs would one Cayuga lay per week?

 

[dotknott]

A lot of folk put leg bands on their birds to id them.

Cayugas are a decent egg producer, and during the spring summer it's not unlikely to have 5-7/week (this varies based on the duck.)

 

[cayugaducklady]

I raised my first set of Cayugas last year. I honestly couldn't tell them apart reliably until October of that year. The giant one and the smallest one were easiest to distinguish but the two middle ducks were practically the same size and praactically identical.

I didn't do leg bands. They were all just named "Duck"

Around October, three of the hens grew in their first white feathers. And i used those feathers plus their sizes to tell them apart. It didn't take logn at all to learn their new names.

This year's babies are easier to tell part.

One is smaller than the others and her feather colors are off the charts. She also had a yellow bib as a duckling.

The other two are larger than her and one of them is Large and the other is Medium. She this batch got names assigned by the time the biggest one started her voice change from peep to squonk.

The second batch is easy to distinguish from last year's ducks.

My layers give me 1-2 eggs a day every day. We eat ducks eggs every day and I still have extras ( half to a whole dozen) to share with coworkers and friends. My smallest layer lays the largest eggs!

 

[neetabeamie]

I raised my first set of Cayugas last year.  I honestly couldn't tell them apart reliably until October of that year.  The giant one and the smallest one were easiest to distinguish but the two middle ducks were practically the same size and praactically identical.

I didn't do leg bands. They were all just named "Duck"

Around October, three of the hens  grew in their first white feathers. And i used those feathers plus their sizes to tell them apart.  It didn't take logn at all to learn their new names.

This year's babies  are easier to tell part.

One is smaller than the others and her feather colors are off the charts.  She also had a yellow bib as a duckling.

The other two are larger than her and one of them is Large and the other is Medium.  She this batch got names assigned by the time the biggest one started her voice change from peep to squonk.

The second batch is easy to distinguish from last year's ducks.

My layers give me 1-2 eggs a day every day. We eat ducks eggs every day and I still have extras ( half to a whole dozen)  to share with coworkers and friends.  My smallest layer lays the largest eggs!

Thank you, that helped out allot.
Quick question, so you have seven ducks. Are all of them laying or just your four from last year?
I am debating getting two Cayuga two Welsh Harlequin and one white layer.
I am going to have quite a few white eggs so I was hoping I would get a decent amount of Cayuga eggs. At the moment I am only getting one Cayuga. I am trying to decide if I should add another.

 

[cayugaducklady]

Sadly, I only have 6 cayugas now. My boss hen from last year was killed by either a very large bobcat or a very small lynx in February. I don't like to talk about it because we're all still recovering from it. Our county's game warden couldn't confirm species without trapping it.

I'd recommend more than one Cayuga

All of my girls seem to have really enjoy gossiping with each other while they foraging. I've only ever raised cayugas so i'm not sure if this is something unique to Cayugas or if my girls just really like to have a running commentary with each other while they're going about their ducky business or if all ducks shar this level of group chattiness. Their gossiping isn't loud at all.. its mostly very low clucks or quiet piggy noises if they find something yummy.

This years babies started doing it while dabbling greens in the brooder and they're starting to gossip with last year's hens when they're all foraging together.

Sometimes I feel like they're taking field notes while I work on outside chores and discussing it amongst themselves.

 

[neetabeamie]

Sadly, I only have 6 cayugas now. My boss hen  from last year was killed by either a very large bobcat or a very small lynx in February.  I don't like to talk about it  because  we're all still recovering from it. Our county's game warden couldn't confirm species without trapping it. 

I'd recommend more than one Cayuga

All of my girls seem to have really enjoy gossiping  with each other while they foraging.  I've only ever raised cayugas so i'm not sure if this is something unique to Cayugas or if my girls just really like to have a running commentary with each other while they're going about their ducky business or if all ducks shar this level of  group chattiness.  Their gossiping isn't loud at all.. its mostly very low clucks or quiet piggy noises if they find something yummy.

This years babies started doing it while dabbling greens in the brooder and they're starting to gossip with last year's hens when they're all foraging together.

Sometimes I feel like they're taking field notes while I work on outside chores and discussing it amongst themselves.

Oh I'm so sorry about your girl. That's so hard.
I decided to order another Cayuga, I just couldn't resist.
You make then sound fantastic, and I am sure they are.
I'm so excited!

 

[cayugaducklady]

Thank you. I had mallards as a kid and cayugas as an adult.
They're the only breed for me

We're excited for you! Enjoy them