cayuga duck thread

[Ibicella]

Ibicella, If you have not had the experience before you are in for a treat. At 2 week they are cute, somewhere around 4 or 5 weeks, when they start to get their adult feathers, they are still cute but sort of ragged looking. The adult feathers come in and the down sort of looks like they have been rolling in the mud or something. But, as they get their adult feathers and start to develop the Cayuga green sheen with the turquoise to dark blue wing feathers they change from cute to beautiful. Once fully mature...well, you are in for a treat.

I'm SO looking forward to it! I'm enjoying spending time with these little guys, teaching them how to swim, how to forage, letting them play in the hose, and watching their silly antics. I'm raising them with chickens, and one of the chicks thinks it's a duck! They HATE it when I close up the garage at night and leave them. They do that forlorn peeping when I'm too far away. I have a drake and two hens for breeding, eggs, and meat. I'm already in love with this breed and they are ideal for my suburban backyard.

How long should they stay in the brooder? Do I need to wait for them to feather out fully like the chickens before they move to the coop?

 

[jtn42248]

I'm SO looking forward to it! I'm enjoying spending time with these little guys, teaching them how to swim, how to forage, letting them play in the hose, and watching their silly antics. I'm raising them with chickens, and one of the chicks thinks it's a duck! They HATE it when I close up the garage at night and leave them. They do that forlorn peeping when I'm too far away. I have a drake and two hens for breeding, eggs, and meat. I'm already in love with this breed and they are ideal for my suburban backyard.

How long should they stay in the brooder? Do I need to wait for them to feather out fully like the chickens before they move to the coop?

A lot of factors come in to play in deciding when they can go from the brooder to the coop. Average temperature, are there any adult birds in the coop already, there age at point of move. I have had two "flocks" of ducklings so far. The first (6 total 3 breeds males and females) arrived in early March and were only a day old. The weather required that I keep them in their brooder in an unfinished attic room with a heat lamp until they were almost fully feathered as adults even though they were still babies in reality. Once the weather was the same outside during the day as I was keeping it in the brooder I was able to move them to the coop with a heat lamp for the chilly evenings. They did very well and have, in fact, just started laying eggs. The second group (18 Cayugas 3 male 15 female) arrived mid-June. The weather was already warm and the attic room with the brooder was already to warm for them to survive. So I moved their brooder down to a spare bedroom and kept them there until the brooder temperature was compatible with the outside temperature. As you can imagine that happened pretty fast and I moved them out to the coop when they were only 3 weeks old. BUT I now had adult birds in that coop as well and had to deal with merging two flocks. So I put a divider so that the ducklings could stay inside all the time and the adults could see and hear them and begin the process of accepting them. During the day the adults would go into the range and the ducklings would go into the run...still separate.

Last week the two began the process of being together in the range and all has gone very well. They still have the divider up during the evening but that will come down in the next couple of weeks as well.

So, depending on your weather and all you might be o.k. to move them to the coop now...before they are fully feathered. Just make sure that they are not chilled in the evening and that they have frequent visits from you until you feel they are o.k. on their own.

Best of luck.

 

[Newduckowner56]

It is so nice to see other people consider their ducks as "kids" not just fowl. I LOVE my ducks, cats, dog, horses & goat and they are all my babies!

 

[jtn42248]

It is so nice to see other people consider their ducks as "kids" not just fowl. I LOVE my ducks, cats, dog, horses & goat and they are all my babies!

I admit it. All my animals, birds and mammals, are as much a part of my family as is my partner, my mother, my sister, etc. They deserve the same protections and considerations and my commitment to their well-being for as long as they live.

 

[Chalfrha73]

My Cayuga is 5 weeks old and has just settled in with 2 khaki and 2 cherry valleys who are 11 weeks. The older ones are all girls but I am still waiting to hear how the Cayuga sounds to determine the sex. At the moment s/he is just cheeping. Does anyone think it might be a boy? I dont really mind what it is, although i quite like the idea of some babies!

 

[Ibicella]

A lot of factors come in to play in deciding when they can go from the brooder to the coop. Average temperature, are there any adult birds in the coop already, there age at point of move. I have had two "flocks" of ducklings so far. The first (6 total 3 breeds males and females) arrived in early March and were only a day old. The weather required that I keep them in their brooder in an unfinished attic room with a heat lamp until they were almost fully feathered as adults even though they were still babies in reality. Once the weather was the same outside during the day as I was keeping it in the brooder I was able to move them to the coop with a heat lamp for the chilly evenings. They did very well and have, in fact, just started laying eggs. The second group (18 Cayugas 3 male 15 female) arrived mid-June. The weather was already warm and the attic room with the brooder was already to warm for them to survive. So I moved their brooder down to a spare bedroom and kept them there until the brooder temperature was compatible with the outside temperature. As you can imagine that happened pretty fast and I moved them out to the coop when they were only 3 weeks old. BUT I now had adult birds in that coop as well and had to deal with merging two flocks. So I put a divider so that the ducklings could stay inside all the time and the adults could see and hear them and begin the process of accepting them. During the day the adults would go into the range and the ducklings would go into the run...still separate.

Last week the two began the process of being together in the range and all has gone very well. They still have the divider up during the evening but that will come down in the next couple of weeks as well.

So, depending on your weather and all you might be o.k. to move them to the coop now...before they are fully feathered. Just make sure that they are not chilled in the evening and that they have frequent visits from you until you feel they are o.k. on their own.

Best of luck.

Thank you very much! Everybody is just 2-1/2 weeks old right now (the chickens and the ducks have the same birthday) and this is my first flock of my own (have lots of experience with care, just never had my own) so everybody has got at least 2-1/2 weeks to go.

Our coop isn't built yet since it's going to be a new deck/coop combination that needs to be professionally built...and with all the delays going on with supply delivery, I really hope these guys don't have to wait too long in their brooders before they are finished. :/

 

[jtn42248]

Wanted to share some update pictures of my Cayuga ducklings. They turned 10 weeks old yesterday. Originally there were 18, now only 17, we lost one to the heat a couple of weeks ago. There were 3 males and 15 females originally and I don't know what we have left. Will have to wait for voice changes and drake feathers.

But, as you can see...they are babies no more...



They free range during the day with the six adult ducks I had originally and so far there has been no problem. I think they may be ready to leave the nursary and share the duck pen with the adults. Like all ducks, they love the water...



It is always a "Last One In..." run for the kiddie pool. I have my eye on a much larger black heavy plastic stock tank to replace the little pool with soon.

 

[Orca5094]

I only have two at the moment, but will be getting more eggs in a couple days to incubate. I love my little Cayugas!


This is Salt. Is it normal for Cayugas to have so much yellow on their heads?? I was quite surprised when this guy hatched out.


And this is Pepper.

 

[DUCKOBSESSED]

Those are some Beautiful ducks that you both have! I love salt! I dont know if that is normal.

 

[rudy6482]

What is the difference in cayuga and east indies as far as appearance? I can't tell a difference from the pics here and our supposed to be west indies duck. Very pretty either way.