Questions about Cayugas and Black East Indian Need info before I buy

[flyingmonkeypoop]

When we first started with ducks we had a mixed flock of ducks. The rouen and pekins layed pretty well, they layed better than my cayugas. The rouens layed a blue colored egg. They were pretty calm and took their time walking around, just going at their own pace except when you feed them, then they rush over as fast as they can. I have never seen any go broody. When we went to our first show and saw show type rouens it was like comparing a chimp to king kong. The show type birds have lots of extra skin and are huge.
The pekins I have had and friends have had were pretty good layers and good meat birds. I think on average they lay about 150 eggs a year. To be honest the cayugas, rouens, and pekins are my least favorite breeds because they are so slow and they eat alot. They also get really messy really fast. Thats why I like the bantam ducks and exotics better, they are cleaner, eat less, and are more active. The bigger breeds are good for kids and all as they are calm and nice but they also are more likely to get caught and eaten by predators.

 

[cwc362]

Thanks I appreciate the info. I really like the way the exotic ones look too but thought since I don't have much experience, I thought would be better to start out with something kinda common. I probaly won't get any ducks until spring anyway. Unless some get dropped in my lap--which is possible--heheh-- I've had stranger things happen

 

[shelleyd2008]

I have all three breeds right now. I have yet to find an egg, but mine are still young. Out of the three, the Pekins are the best layers, but they are also the least likely to brood their young (going from research here!). The rouens come in as #2 as far as egg laying, and are more likely to brood than the Pekins, but still not very likely. The Cayugas come in at #3 as far as egg laying goes, and I have read that they will readily brood and raise their own young. All three are meat birds, getting upwards of 8 pounds, I believe. I use a 50# bag of flock raiser in about 2 weeks for 10 ducks, so not that bad, I don't think.
The Pekins and the Cayugas are hard to sex. If you are buying them at an auction, the best way to tell if it is a duck or a drake is to poke your finger at them, or some other way to get them to quack. The ducks have a very recognizable quack, as the drakes have a more raspy sound. I compare it to a whisper. The Rouens are much easier to sex, as the ducks and drakes are different colors. The ducks are a brown color, with their feathers tipped with a lighter brown or gold coloring. The drakes look just like a drake mallard, only bigger, with the green heads.
They cannot fly well at all, but mine have been on the pond for months with not much trouble. I did have a pekin and a rouen duck that disappeared this summer, but they were new, so I figure they didn't know what to do. They hadn't been used to living on a pond. Plus I'm fairly certain a snapping turtle got the rouen, as she was very young. Not sure what happened to the pekin, but I haven't had any problems with the others.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Forgot to add that with the pekins and Cayugas, the other way to tell if it is a duck or a drake is by the drake feathers, but I know a lot of people in my area will pull the drake feathers out to try and get more money for a duck. Just like with chickens, not many people want to get a lot of drakes. I, on the other hand, have more drakes than ducks, but I got them to have something to look at, so it really doesn't matter. Would like to have another rouen duk or two, as I only have 1, with 3 drakes, but I have had no luck finding them!

 

[cwc362]

thanks again everybody for all the great info!!! Wayne

 

[cayuga26]

well I dont have any experience with East Indies but have found the Cayuga's to be excelent ducks. If protected from predators and allowed to grase (eather in a tractor or large pen) they eat significantly less than a Pekin duck (we had 4 Cayugas and 4 pekins kept seperatly and the pekins would require double the food per day and both were alowed access to grass and kept in identicle conditions. Basicaly we had to fill the Pekin's food twice a day and the Cayugas would barly eat all of there food from the morning.)

Anyways thats just my personal experience with the two breed. I would imagin kept in confinment they would eat alot though because of there larger size. But given the chance they seem to prefer green feed to grains.