cayuga duck thread

[buff goose guy]

By molting I mean getting rid of the baby feathers and growing the long waxy feathers

Some can definetly for some it's a lot like puberty .

 

[Starfire669]

By molting I mean getting rid of the baby feathers and growing the long waxy feathers

Some can definetly for some it's a lot like puberty .

Ok. I think we are hitting puberty with my flock. They are doing all sorts of crazy things. my 15 week old geese were practicing for breeding season. 1 of my SLW cockerels injured one of my BR hens trying to mate with her a few days ago. This afternoon I caught my 15 week old RIR cockerel on top of my 5 week old African goslings attempting to mate with her! I swear my birds are all confused/certifiable because dang! The 4 largest cockerels are being sent to freezer camp tomorrow, I can't deal with their brand of craziness anymore.

 

[buff goose guy]

Just separate them eventually they all calm down after about a week of being separated

 

[Starfire669]

Just separate them eventually they all calm down after about a week of being separated

I only have 2 coops, a goose/duck coop and a chicken coop. After the BR hen was injured I moved those 4 over to the goose coop. The 15 week old geese usually watch out for the younger ones. But somehow this little girl was separated from the larger geese and the dang cockerel caught her alone and unprotected. So now, with no where else to put those guys, its off with their heads. I have a head rooster already picked out and he does a decent job. He is young and still learning but tries to defend the ladies when he sees them being harassed. These 4 cockerels were always going to end up in freezer camp, just wanted to fatten them up a bit.

 

[buff goose guy]

Ohh okay we'll that makes me fill better that they were meant to be eaten .

 

[Starfire669]

Ohh okay we'll that makes me fill better that they were meant to be eaten .

We purchased some straight run and some pullets only. We wanted and needed a rooster to look out for the flock. We knew we would have too many Roos though, and planned for them to be dinner. We wanted a few Roos to pick the best 1 or 2 for the ladies. As mean as these 4 are, they were never in the running for the position for head Roo.

 

[buff goose guy]

Lol okay

The poor guys only wanted to be loved

 

[Serenity Lane]

Great

I checked out muscovys and I'm still leaning toward the cayuga. I also have a friend who has Cayugas so if it doesn't work out, I do have a back up plan.
I found somebody on BYC who has 4 for sale. Two are 2 weeks old and the other two are almost a week old. Lucky me, she lives about an hour, maybe a little more, from me. Most of the time I see a good ad, then find out the seller is half way across the country. Anyway, I'm hoping to get them tomorrow. I'll post pictures once I have them.
I'm SO excited!!

 

[buff goose guy]

Im so excited for you

The proud parents of the newest addition to the farm .

 

[Starfire669]

Lol okay

The poor guys only wanted to be loved

Probably, but beating up the ladies is not the way to love, lol. I find it interesting that the SLW cockerels were all mean. We originally got 7 straight runs and 6 were Roos! I sold 3 hoping that by reducing the Roos it would help as they were only 12 weeks old at the time. They were so pretty I wanted to save a couple of them. But even doing that didn't help. I will never get SLW as straight runs again, I prefer more docile birds. They don't need to be lap pets or anything, but with 11 and 12 year old boys I can't have a viscous Roo here. The RIR Roo surprised me with how mean he got, my parents had a RIR Roo and he wasn't like that. I think it is because mine are hatchery birds. Whatever the reason, my sister gave me a 5 month old black Ausrtolorp X white Leghorn Roo, we call him Screwball, and he is what I was looking for. We can handle him, once we catch him, lol. And he tries to defend the ladies from the younger Roos. He does occasionally get a beakful of feathers from a lady but he doesn't poke an eye out like the SLW did to 1 of my BR hens. I had hoped to keep 1 extra Roo as a backup, 20 ladies is a lot for 1 Roo. But these 4 are just too mean so unless I have a slow to mature Roo in the flock I will only have Screwball. I had hoped that 1 of my BR would be a Roo, so I could have 2, but it's looking like I got all 5 as hens. My BR are by far my favorite birds in the flock for their gentleness and willingness to be handled easily.