Are cayugas really ready for harvest in 6 weeks?

[DStewart PDX]

Greetings, duckers!
On another thread I posted about meat birds, a duck keeper said cayugas are ready for harvest in six weeks! Is that for real? That would be faster than a CornishX. Is it true?

 

[betsycam]

I don't know, but I bought chicks at the same time that my Runner hen hatched out some ducklings, and dang do ducks grow fast compared to chickens! I remember my runner ducklings being as tall as their mother by two months old while the pullets were still half the adult size! So, I'm inclined to believe that person about the Cayugas.

 

[cosbackyard]

I'm not an expert, either but ducks do grow alot faster than chickens. I wouldn't be surprised if they were full grown at about six weeks.

 

[Kevin565]

Ducks do mature quite quickly but I wouldn't personally harvest Cayugas at 6 weeks. That might be possible with certain strains of pekin ducks though.

 

[DStewart PDX]

At what age would you take the cayugas?

 

[Kevin565]

I would probably wait until 8-10 weeks depending upon how fast they were growing.

 

[DStewart PDX]

Great! Thank you!