Thriller shrouds the origins of the Cayuga duck. Among the many many legends, one claims the breed got here from a pair of untamed geese in New York. One other claims the Cayuga derives from the traditional Black duck of Lancashire in the UK.

Regardless of the case, the duck will get its identify from a Native American tribe in New York’s Finger Lakes area. The Cayuga duck was admitted to the American Commonplace of Perfection in 1874.

Bodily Attributes

The Cayuga is solely black, together with its invoice, legs, and toes. In daylight, nevertheless, the plumage has an iridescent inexperienced sheen.

As these geese age their colour step by step mottles with white, particularly among the many hens. Selective breeding towards white feathers additionally selects towards the attribute iridescence, which then could be misplaced in future generations.

The toes of ageing drakes could develop traces of orange, and their legs and invoice could shade to darkish olive. Mature drakes develop gender figuring out curled feathers on the prime of their tail.

Breed Qualities

Cayugas are among the many hardiest of home geese. They’re glorious foragers and, given sufficient good looking floor, can fulfill most of their very own dietary wants. They particularly relish bugs, snails, and slugs. However, as a result of they don’t readily fly, free-range Cayugas could have bother escaping predators.

Cayuga geese are particularly chilly hardy. In heat climate, although, their black plumage absorbs warmth from daylight, so that they want some shade.

This breed was as soon as a preferred meat and egg duck on New York farms. Cayugas mature quickly. The hens attain 7 kilos stay weight at maturity, the drakes develop to eight kilos. For meat functions, they’re prepared for harvest between 8 and 12 weeks of age.

Cayuga hens lay 100 to 150 medium to giant eggs per season. The shells are white, lined with a black movie early within the laying season that step by step turns into grey because the season progresses. The hens could brood, and once they do they’re truthful moms.

The Cayuga is a comparatively quiet, calm, and pleasant breed. Due to their beautiful colour and their docile temperament, Cayuga geese are particularly in style at exhibition. For a similar causes, they make terrific yard pets.

Useful Hyperlinks

And that’s in the present day’s information from the Cackle Coop.

Gail Damerow is the creator of An Absolute Newbie’s Information to Elevating Yard Geese : Breeds, Feeding, Housing and Care, Eggs and Meat.