2 Cayuga Girls & 1 Cayuga Drake

[TheHighlandChick01]

We have three Cayuga ducks, hatched in May, two are females & one is male. The one female is the same size of the drake but the other female is considerably smaller. Within the last two weeks the two larger ducks have been mating. They also tend to go off foraging together while our smaller girl is left behind. She’ll go after them but she eventually gives up & just does her own thing. There have been a few times when the larger female “pushes” the smaller one. Should we be concerned for our smallest girl? We absolutely love these ducks.

 

[Miss Lydia]

When you say she goes after them but eventually gives up is there something wrong with her that she can’t keep up? Larger pushes the smaller? I see mine doing these things at times so if the smaller isn’t being hurt maybe it’s best to just let them works these things out. Does the drake mate with the smaller duck?

 

[TheHighlandChick01]

It seems as if once our drake started becoming interested in mating the one girl they have become a couple. It’s almost as if our smallest girl is the “odd man out/third wheel” if that makes sense. She seems healthy just smaller than the others.

To answer your question I have only seen our drake try to mate our smaller girl one time and she immediately put a stop to it.

Interesting: the drake & the larger girl do the flirty head bobbing thing but we’ve never seen our smaller
girl do it. No clue if this is normal or not but they all hatched together back in May.

It’s getting colder where we are so we have covered their indoor pool in their run for the winter. We have set up a kiddie pool outside their run for those days when it’s above freezing & they’re out free ranging.

Our littlest has yet to learn how to get into it whereas the other two figured out how to use the ramp super fast. When the little one tries to climb up over the side of the pool the larger girl will push her to keep her out. It’s almost as if the larger girl sees the younger one as a threat.

The bigger one will also push the smaller one away sometimes when she’s with the drake.

There are times when the drake & the larger girl go off together when they’re foraging. Sometimes little will go and join them but sometimes she’ll just sit down & forage wherever she is.

There are times when things seem totally normal between so it’s not 100% shunning or anything.

We’re new to having ducks so we are learning as we go. One other question we have is this: is it weird the one isn’t interested in mating or do they all mature differently?

 

[Miss Lydia]

And you positive little is a female? Can you post pics of them
So we can see size difference? Usually by 5 months most Mallard derived ducks are sexually active but I am sure there are probably exceptions. On the pool do you have steps or a ramp for them to use to get into the pool?

 

[TheHighlandChick01]

Thank you so much for answering my questions! I truly appreciate it.

Yes, we do have a ramp, and we’ve modified it a couple of times to try and make it easier for her to no avail. My husband came up with another option which we are going to try this week so hopefully it will be easier for her.

In the group pic she’s on the left. She doesn’t have a male feather & she most definitely quacks like our other girl although not as loud. Not the best pics to see size difference but here you go & again thank you so much!

 

[Miss Lydia]

They are beautiesAnd she doesn’t look unusually small but pics can be deceiving too. As long as they aren’t picking on her to extreme and not injuring her I’d just let them work things out. If she’s healthy she can take it. Although we don’t like to see any of our birds bully each other evidently it’s a common thing, I say mine remind me of a school yard full of kids someone has to pick on someone. Main thing it’s not a stress thing to where she gets depressed stops eating and her health takes a wrong turn.

 

[TheHighlandChick01]

Thank you! They really are beautiful & we are blessed to have them. They do remind me of Junior High kids sometimes with their squabbling. ‍

At what point should we be concerned our little one isn’t sexually active?

Last week we were pleasantly surprised to find eggs in their enclosure. There was a large one on Tuesday, a small chicken-sized egg on Wednesday & then a similarly small egg on Thursday. Could the small eggs be from our smallest girl or is it possible all three eggs came from our other girl?

 

[Miss Lydia]

Possibly both females are laying I have 3 young Runners I am still waiting on to start. They can be sporadic on size of egg too usually starting out laying small then as their system gets use to it the eggs become larger. I really wouldn’t worry about the mating eventually she should start flirting with the drake and it will begin or he may just force himself on her. I’ve seen both. They seem to work things out with out too much interference from us. Unless someone is being injured or picked on relentlessly I rarely intervene. I don’t usually see it either. The girls (Muscovy) can have their moments most of the time it’s when one is broody and if she won’t quit being hateful she goes into solitary confinement for a few nights an usually snaps out of it. I have never seen my Runners an Buffs get into anything. But they are all a hoot! I enjoy duck dynamics much more than human

 

[TheHighlandChick01]

Ducks really are fun to watch. I love each of their different personalities. The larger girl is very talkative whenever she sees me so we named her Anne Shirley (from Anne of Green Gables) but we usually just call her Sassy. She really is a sassy girl & makes us all laugh!

You mention that you have Indian Runners so maybe you can help me with this too: the person we got our three from said they are part Cayuga & part Indian Runner. Everyone who have seen our three say there’s no way they have any Indian Runner in them. What do you think based on the two pictures I shared? Do you think they have any Runner in them?

Thank you for sharing your insights! I really appreciate it.

 

[Miss Lydia]

Your 3 don’t look like it from the pictures but the Cayuga just maybe the more dominant breed that is showing if you can get more pictures of them facing the camera and standing sideways. Your drake has beautiful coloring like a Cayuga drake my blk Runner has these colors too so it’s just really hard to say.