Cayuga???

[tomynoks]

I bought 4 Cayugas a few months ago and they were 8 weeks then, so now they're around 16 weeks. All are bigger than what I expected and none have turned iridescent yet. One has an orange/green bill like a mallard. I'm starting to wonder if they are some kind of cross. The only ducks the lady had were Cayugas and Muacovy and they were separated. Any thoughts??

 

[junebuggena]

Walmart has duck. Lol. I don't eat them, but before the Pekin came to the US, the Cayuga was the #1 meat bird. So easy to buy one already cleaned and plucked. Why raise for meat?? I'm no liberal animal rights activist, but I'm just wondering how that even makes sense financially these days.

Why raise for meat?
Because it's better to consume something that has been raised in a healthy and humane manner rather than buying factory farmed meat. That's all there is to it.

 

[cayugaducklady]

I have Cayugas but they're for eggs and entertainment only. The breed description says they are good meat birds.

Duck meat is my favorite poultry meat. I especially looove making chicken and dumplings with duck legs instead of chicken. Duck legs make the broth much more rich and complex. Sooo tasty.

I'm lucky enough to have a free range poultry specialist about 30 miles away from me that raises ducks, chickens, turkeys and pheasants. I've eaten Pekin duck and Muscovy duck.

I prefer to roast the Pekin duck and I prefer to quick sear Muscovy breast. Muscovy meat is darker than typical poultry flesh.

I have to admit I'm curious about Cayuga meat. It would have to be a level 5 zombie apocalypse for me to consider processing anything I raised for meat and even then I might have to turn vegetarian. My heart is too soft for it now that i'm old .

 

[tomynoks]

This is him.

 

[jducour]

In my experience, cayuga can be quite large. Not as big as a pekin, but up to 8 pounds or so. It looks like a cayuga to me - have they molted again yet? They may get more iridescent after their next molt - I think it is around 4-5 months old.

 

[Amiga]

Looks like a Cayuga to me. I think they are in the 6 plus pound range... ours is a tiny squirt - I wonder if she's part Call.

 

[tomynoks]

I'd love to see pics of your mini-Cayuga!! They are molting now so hopefully I'll see more green. I'm just surprised bc most pics I have seen represent a more streamlined duck. The drake pictured has a huge droopy breast no humor intended!!

 

[cayugaducklady]

It almost looks like the drake's bill is orange instead of black/ olive green. I'm new to ducks and Cayugas but I've never seen a confirmed picture labeled purebred Cayuga with an 100% orange bill or 100% orange feet. Most of the confirmed pics I looked at were show quality birds so those are definitely going to have perfect breed standard coloration. Unless you were sold show quality birds their coloration may be in normal color range for the breed.

It may also be possible their pigmentation can be influenced by diet (like flamingos turning pink from eating crustaceans) but I'm totally speculating on that. I know my own girls really starting looking shiny and their colors amped up when they learned that black oiled sunflower seeds are yummy.

My girls have black bills with olive green areas. They also have black feet with some not quite orange areas in the places where they naturally shed skin faster. When they were little that had black bills and black feet with silvery gray areas where the orange is now.

The iridescence comes out in the light. My girls feathers are black but they shimmer with different colors depending on where the feathers are, They all have blue/ purple bars on their wings. When they were ducklings they went from black fuzzballs to black ducklings. Then at their teenager molt they started getting iridescent feathers head feathers and have gotten progressively more iridescent as they grew up. I'm a little fuzzy on the timelines but I don't think they've had their first adult feather molt yet. That is supposed to give you the best coloring.

My girls are what looks like a healthy weight to me. They don't feel bony or like plump little fatballs when I pick them up. They have a very full breast meat areas with a definite line separating the muscles but the area doesn't droop.

I have two very large girls ranked #1 and #2 in the flock and 2 smaller hens that are #3 and #4 in the flock. They've had those ranking since one of them had a leg injury early on in week one of their lives. (The one with injury was actually the boss duckling right out of the hatchery box and now she's number #4 because she is the smallest).

The big hens are almost certainly biologically related somehow because they both have the same single silver feather the droops occasionally from underneath their wings.

The biggest hens are about 8 lbs. My two smallest hens are about 5 pounds each. They're not 6 months old yet but they are starting to look more & more like adult ducks every day.

 

[tomynoks]

Can you post pictures of yours please? Yes on my hands have black bills it's just the one drake that has the orange-ish greenish bill and double breast in fact he looks so heavy in the front sometimes you think you would fall over forward

 

[cayugaducklady]

Hmm, tht description of the double breast being so full makes me wonder if there's some heavy meat duck breed in his heritage.

Here are some pics of my girls.







The order is most recent ( 5 months ) to youngest (2 months). The third pic is a weird angle showing their black webbing and silvery orange toes and foot parts (and my boss hen's notched neck feathers. She invites all to play duck games with her & they all participate.)



I can go through my archive and post baby pictures too or closeup of individuals. Forthe most part they all look virtually identical.