Cayuga

I kept my cayugas for only three months, but was dissatisfied enough to get rid of them. My first ducks, after doing research, were muscovies, so I was used to those. I decided to try cayugas based on a strong recommendation from BYC. I ordered eight ducklings from Holderread's. All of my impressions of cayugas are only compared to muscovies. I have never kept any other kind of duck.

Muscovies are smart, quiet, independent, and confident. By comparison, the cayugas are loud (though they are quieter than other ducks, the muscovy are silent). They are also strongly flocking birds, which means that if one duck starts something, pretty soon they are all going. The flocking instinct also makes them extremely welcoming to new birds! As soon as they see a strange bird, they gather it into their flock. This is great if you bring in new birds! They don't even care what kind of duck it is! Anyone is welcome to flock with them.

The cayugas are kind of stupid compared to the muscovy. As youngsters, the cayugas would get themselves "stuck" behind a fence with a large opening at one end. They would pace the fence, get six inches from the gap, stop and head the other way, in distress because they were trapped. Their lack of creativity also makes them a little easier to catch. When I needed to catch them, they had a consistent pattern they would take around the yard, making it easy to anticipate their movements. That said, they did manage to evade predators for three months despite never, ever going into their duck house.

Ah yes, the duck house. I built them a duck palace! They allowed me to herd them into it for about three weeks, then began resisting more and more, and finally flat refusing to sleep in the house. They survived fine for another couple of months, then one fell to a raccoon.

While a muscovy drake is ready to eat at 12 weeks or even earlier, a 12 week cayuga is a poor harvest. They look big, but they are much, much lighter ducks than the muscovy. A 13 week muscovy drake had boneless breasts that were 3/4 pound each. The cayuga of the same age was 1/4 pound each. Huge difference! What other reviewers have said about the difficulties with the black feathers is also a big consideration. My muscovies have light colored down on yellow skin. The cayugas have pitch black down on marble white skin. Those carcasses looked like crap, even with lots of time invested in plucking.

All in all, I just got so annoyed with the small problems, I gave them away. These ducks may be just the thing for some folks. But for my urban meat raising project, they fail to measure up.

Out of every duck breed that has ever become a part of our flock, the cayuga is the one that has stood out. Their stunning green and blue iridescent feathers add a touch of beauty to the barnyard, however that is only a minor plus of this breed. Cayugas are much calmer and mellow than other breeds, the drakes are even gentle with their hens.
They seem to handle the harsh northern climate well, however due to their black feathering would probably struggle in hotter climates. Ours have been known to venture out into the snow and attempt to bathe themselves in it during the winter.
I find their meat quality superior to that of other breeds we have raised. They have a very distinct flavor that I prefer over many other breeds of duck. The only problems with raising them as meat birds is that they are not incredibly fast growing, and their black feathers make them very hard to pluck.
Another pro to the cayuga is that they arent complete pigs when it comes to feed, and they are very good foragers. While largers breeds of ducks are notorious for consuming large quantities of feed, I find that cayugas have a relatively low feed consumption rate, especially if allowed to free range. They greatly enjoy slugs and snails, which makes them an excellent gardening partner for those with snail or slug problems.
I would highly recommend cayugas to anyone looking to raise ducks.

These are definitely ducks with personality and individuality! I have three and I'm extremely happy with this breed. They are strikingly beautiful and fun-loving, and quite intelligent. They run all over my yard and LOVE snatching up every slug and snail they can find, playing in the sprinkler, and trying new things to nibble on.

Mine are just over a month old at the time of this writing. I think if you are considering having these guys as pets, they are a good choice. Your mileage IS going to vary though, depending on their individual personalities and training. I've been handling mine since they were a day old, but they really do NOT like being picked up, handled, or cuddled. However, they do enjoy spending time with me, napping near my feet, untying my shoelaces (shoelaces are the GREATEST DUCK TOYS EVAR!!!! in their opinion *LOL*), running circles around me, come readily for treats, do not bite, and quickly pick up on stuff I'm teaching them. They are very intelligent.

Right now I'm working on getting them comfortable with being handled because they need to learn for health and practical reasons to be calm in our arms. I am confident they will catch on with patience and persistence in hand-training.

The hens just learned to quack, and when they are angry or startled, they can quack very loudly. The majority of the time though, they very quiet so they don't disturb my neighbors.

I'll add updates to this review of them in the future as they grow and start to lay eggs and breed so I can comment about that. But for now, I think I made a good choice in picks for my first duck flock.


Edit: 4/12/15 -- My duckies are 9 months old now! They are just beautiful. They have brilliant green and black feathers and my drake has a cute little curl in his tail. The hens started laying eggs at 6 months of age and they are quite prolific about it! I get eggs almost daily, sometimes two, sometimes four at once!

We're hoping soon that one of the hens will go broody so we can have some ducklings! My drake is a wonderful drake. He's not rough on his females when mating, and he's very diligent about chasing off anything that bothers his ladies. Including me! He gets very worried if I'm holding one of his girls and paces back and forth and dabbles my arm with his bill most indignantly.

They never really got to be happy about being held and picked up so I try not to do it very much, but they are docile in my arms and don't bite. They just tolerate me till I let them go.

I purchased Grace at a local feed store when she was 2 days old. The store owner told me she is a Blue Swedish and as a newly hatched duckling she looked like the pictures I found online. When she lost the little yellow patch on her breast and developed the new beautiful green and blue feathers, I knew she wasn't a Blue Swedish. So I started looking at photos online and found the Cayuga. I think the Cayuga are much prettier than the Blue Swedish and we are very happy with her. As you can see from the photos, she's very docile and doesn't mind being held. Can't wait for her to start laying!

I like my Cayuga quite a bit. She is 14 weeks and loves to play and splash in the water.
I have been told that Cayugas are less friendly toward people but she is by far the cuddliest of my ducks.

My cayuga duck is sitting on eggs she is a very good mother so far. They love the water I will walk outside in they middle of the night to find him just sitting in the pond and they certainly like the water more than my Mascovys and mine rant exactly friendly bat that could be because when I got them they were already about 5 months old once. I find that they are good layers the duck was laying everyday until she got broody and its so funny watching her run after the bugs in the yard plus they are really soft

So over all i think they are a pretty good duck

they are beautiful and i would love to have two hen and a durk

I got mine from Dunlaps hatchery. They are good foragers, and decent layers. A hen from last year went broody and hatched three chicks. I now have a Cayuga drake over a khaki campbell, and two buff hens for sex linked ducklings. The ducklets are have charcoal down and the draklets have brown or blond depending on the mother. I would really like to get some from Holderreads stock as I am not very happy with the Dunlaps quality and hardiness.

Not really good pets.

i just love my cayugas! (notice my username...) it took a while to build up their trust, but now, they will get in my lap and let me pet them. one of them is learning her name, Midnight, and she is very smart. their eggs are bigger and taste richer than chicken eggs, and they won't eat your earrings like some other chickens and ducks do. i don't mind the mess they make, but, they just can't leave the mud puddles alone!
they were about 10 dollars each.

My cayuga girl is so sweet and funny. She is short and fat waddles around ruling my duckyard. She is hatchery quality so not a lot of irridescent feathers, but she is still very pretty and my softest duck. Will tolerate me petting and holding her. She likes chasing flying bugs all across the yard.

theyare such i cool breed i wan tone SO bad

-------------duckyhomie12

Only had him for a little bit but he is a good boy, I cant wait to get him some girls. Verry friendly

I have a Cayuga drake. He's the sweetest little thing ever! He's very social and loves attention and like all ducks (that I know of) loves water! He's fun and energetic! If I were to suggest a duck breed for a pet it would be the Cayuga!

I love my Cayuga ducks. They are not real noisy except I think the Mallard hen taught them to talk more than their parents did. I have two hens and get an egg from each of them every day. They eat the bugs so our yard has less japanese beetles than our neighbors. I have two hens right now and one lays a beautiful black egg while the other's started out black and is now a gray color. They are rich in flavor and I have many people wanting them. They were hatched out by a golden-laced wyandotte and then adopted by a Mallard hen when it came time to swim. They are alot of fun to watch. They love the snow and we have a big horse feeder which we use for their pool. They love to have hot water poured in their pool that was frozen so they have a hot tub in the winter. They are a very hardy breed that loves to be spoiled but are not picky about their home as long as they have fresh water, fresh food and a place to go in bad weather and lay their eggs. As long as the water is outside of their nesting/duck house, the house stays clean.

I love mine. I have 7. 2 hens and the rest drakes. These guys love water but are also pretty good on land. They are very winter hardy and are happy. Its fun to watch them in 15 weather swim in a tub (3 can fit) and then they walk out and the water freezes and icicles drop off. Its fun to watch them "swim" through fresh deep powder... didn't know you could 'swim' through snow... ducks go figure.
Like all ducks their messiness is understated. I am still waiting for my black eggs... my ducks are about 9 pounds. the makes make a funny sound and the females are very social.... And when the water or feed is put out they make themselves know... they can adjust their volume levels....
Also my camera struggles to capture their shine.... The are not outlined in their chest feathers but its how the light is hitting them. They are black.

these are bred from mallards. black ducks dont get drake tail feathers and cayugas do. they are great at finding food on their own and lay fairly well once they start. they also go broody nore often than many other duck breeds, they arent as friendly as my pekins but not as shy as my runners. they look great though and get along with my other poultry ery well. like the water more than my other breeds also.