Cayuga Ducks

There is no definitive origin of the Cayuga, but traditionally it is believed that a miller in Duchess County, New York caught a pair of wild black ducks and decided to raise them for eggs and meat for both his table and the marketplace in 1809. It is then said that John Clark obtained some of these black ducks in Orange County, New York and introduced them to Cayuga County, New York in 1840 where the Cayuga got its name. Should the traditional origin be true, this would make the Cayuga the first duck originating from the United States.

The Cayuga was added to the American Standard of Perfection in 1874. A very hardy duck with great utility, they were very popular for meat purposes until the Pekin was introduced to the market in the 1890’s. Today they are considered a threatened species by the Livestock Conservancy.

Adult Cayuga Male

Cayuga are a medium weight duck, about 4¾ to 6 pounds, and have meat that is considered quite flavorful. Due to the dark pin feathers and the dark coloring they leave in the skin, however, the carcass is not as clean appearing as a Pekin. They can lay about 150 eggs a year with egg color ranging from black to light gray. Cayuga are quite docile and easily tamed making them excellent pets. While their plumage can be considered a greenish black, they shine iridescent green in the sun and start to turn gray or white as they age. Sometimes this change starts in one year and sometimes it takes several years for the white feathers to begin appearing. Interestingly, some flocks originating from the same parents will molt to white feathers sooner than others. We breed our Cayuga exclusively on our farm and sometimes at the end of some years we have a lot of whitish birds, and other years there are none. Therefore, change must be induced by something in their environment. What that something is we have not been able to determine.

Freshly laid Cayuga eggs

Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Cayuga	Calm	4.75 - 6 pounds	130-180/year	Fair	<2%	75-90 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
83%	Medium	Good	Watch	Excellent Color, Good Type	None	USA

Indian Runner Ducks

Adult Fawn and White Runners

Indian Runner ducks are named as such as it was believed they had originated from India. They first hit English soil in the 1850’s and were admitted into the American Standard of Perfection in 1898. It wasn’t until 1901 that importers acknowledged that the ducks originated from Southeast Asia, not India. By then the name had stuck.

Baby Fawn and White Runners

Indian Runner ducks are unique from other domestic breeds as they stand upright and do not waddle, they run. A light weight duck, about 3¼ to 4 pounds, this breed was widely used as proficient weeders and snail eaters in fields. Southeast Asian farmers would have them walking fields during the day eating waste rice, weed seeds, insects, slugs and other bugs. At night they were put up in bamboo pens where the farmers would collect the eggs in the morning and release them to another field for cleaning.

Adult Chocolate Runners

The utility of the Indian Runner as a working duck can also be seen in its egg production and meat it has to offer. For its thin size, it has a surprising amount of meat and was common on tables in Southeast Asia and even on ships as a living source of food where they were known as “Baly Soldiers” or “Penguin Ducks”. Indian Runners took the place of what chickens are today as they laid many more eggs. Asian cultures introduced unique uses for duck eggs including balut, where an egg is partially incubated before eating, and salted eggs, where the egg is put in a salt solution or salt mud until the salt has permeated the entire egg as a preservative agent. However, over 80 years of selecting for color, shape, and stance, but not egg production, has caused their laying abilities to trend downwards to where they are now only average in laying ability. Our data shows that Runners currently lay about 100-180 eggs a year.

Baby Chocolate Runners

Today, Runner ducks have other uses other than field cleaners, egg layers, and pets. Runners have a personality we classify as “nervous” and have a habit of staying together in a flock - where one goes, the others do, too. Because this type of behavior resembles the flocking instinct of sheep, they are used to train herding dogs.

Baby Blue Runners

We offer 4 color variations of Indian Runners: Black, Blue, Chocolate, and Fawn and White. The Black and Chocolate Runners breed true, meaning if you breed a Chocolate Runner with a Chocolate Runner you will get a Chocolate Runner, but the Blue does not. We have two pens of breeders in order to hatch Blue Runners. One pen has Black Runner males on Silver females. The other pen has Silver males on Black females. This gives us 100% Blue colored Runner ducks.

Adult Black Runners

Due to their utility, unique stance and varied coloring, Runner ducks are a very popular bird year-round. They lay a decent amount of eggs, are smaller than the average duck, and require minimal maintenance. If you are looking for a versatile and self-sufficient duck, the Indian Runner would be an excellent choice for any flock. 

Baby Black Runners

Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Indian Runner	Nervous	3.25 - 4 pounds	100-180/year	Poor - Fair	70%*	65-80 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
84%**	Light	Very Good	Recovering	Average	None	Indonesia

*Chocolate Runners have a 75% chance of laying bluish eggs while Fawn and White Runners only have 37%.
**Chocolate Runners and Fawn and White Runners have a 86% fertility.

Khaki Campbell

The Khaki Campbell was first bred in the late 1800s by Adele Campbell in Gloucestershire, England. She had crossed her Fawn and White Indian Runners with Rouens in order to make a breed with exceptional egg laying abilities with larger bodies. Wanting the then popular buff color, she tried to breed her original Campbells with Penciled Runners. She did not get the buff color she wanted, but the color she got was similar to the khaki color used in British army uniforms so the ducks became Khaki Campbells.

The newly dubbed Khaki Campbell was introduced to the public in 1898 and made its way to the United States in 1929 thanks in part to Perry Fish of Syracuse, New York. They became a part of the American Standard of Perfection in 1941, despite the fact their numbers had languished for several years. This changed in the 1970’s when the Khaki Campbell population increased due to social movements to return to the land and duck egg demand increased due to Vietnamese immigrants after the Vietnam War.

 

The Khaki Campbell is a light weight bird, around 3½ to 4½ pounds, and a very prolific layer. In 1920 Aalt Jansen from the Netherlands started breeding Khaki Campbel
l imported from England. With careful breeding and testing, Jansen was able to produce a strain that averaged 335 to 340 eggs per duck per laying year. With a flock of 50,000 that is 16.75 million eggs per year which was extraordinary at the time. The Jansen flock was eventually picked up by the Kortlang family in England. John Metzer has visited the Kortlang farm and our own Khaki Campbells have some Kortlang blood in them.

Jansen Farms Letter Header April 15, 1978

Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Khaki Campbell	Nervous	3.5 - 4.5 pounds	165-240/year	Good	<5%	75-85 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
87%	Light	Very Good	Watch	Fairly Good	Maybe	England

Buff Ducks! What are they and Where are they from?

William Cook is the father of the Buff duck. Born in 1849, he specialized in Orpington chickens and ducks, named after the town his farm was in, Orpington, Kent in England. At the time the buff color was popular as it was the same color as the waistcoat of the Royal East Kent Regiment. Wanting to capitalize on this, William started breeding Cayuga, Runner, Aylesbury, and Rouen ducks together in order to produce a buff color.

In 1897 William introduced the Buff Orpington duck. It was a medium sized duck, ranging from 6 to 7 pounds. It was considered a great all-purpose duck as it’s meat offered a decent sized breast in 8 to 10 weeks and could lay about 200 eggs a year, making it a good year-round layer.

William brought the Orpington buff duck to America in 1908 and showed it in the Madison Square Garden Show in New York City. In 1914 it was admitted into the American Standard of Perfection as simply Buff, making it the first breed to be named by only its color.

Today the Buff is a threatened breed. The Livestock Conservancy’s 2000 census has identified 793 breeding Buff ducks with only 11 people currently breeding them. It is still prized for its coloring and dual-purpose flexibility. In fact, many believe the buff feathers are easier to pluck than the white feathers of more popular meat birds.

We offer the Buff ducklings typically from mid-February through November each year. They are a calm, beautiful duck that is very popular.

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Want to know how to take care of your ducklings? Read our series of posts about what you need to know!

Brooder and Bedding

Water and Waterer

Feed and Feeder

Heating

Other Items to Consider

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Breed	Temperament	Weight	Egg Production	Mothering	Bluish Eggs	Egg Size
Buff	Calm	5-6.25 pounds	130-180/year	Fair	20%	80-90 grams
Fertility	APA Class	Foraging Ability	Conservation Status	Our Show Quality	Flying Ability	Origin
85%	Medium	Good	Threatened	Average	None	England

Information from our Duck Comparison Table

The Livestock Conservancy - A Valuable Organization

The Livestock Conservancy is a nonprofit membership organization working to protect over 180 breeds of livestock and poultry from extinction.  Its mission is to protect the genetic diversity in livestock and poultry species through the conservation and promotion of endangered breeds. These rare breeds are part of our national heritage and represent a unique piece of the earth's bio-diversity.

Karakul Sheep

I have been a member of the Livestock Conservancy (formerly the American Livestock Breed Conservancy or ALBC) for many years and became a board member in 2012.

Each year a conference is presented with extraordinary speakers presenting fascinating topics.  I would encourage you to attend each year's conference.  This year's conference is November 18&19, 2014 and is in Austin, Texas.  A few examples of previous year's presentations:

Handspinners and Knitters Want to Buy Your Rare Breed Wool!
Tail to Snout: What It Takes to Be Successful With Heritage Hogs
Rare Breeds Farm Tours, The Delight is in the Details
Tradition and Techniques: Learning to Cook with Heritage Breed Meats
Uncommon Fare: People Want Interesting Food
How Heritage Chickens Can Help Save the World! 

I would also encourage everyone to become a member.  Annual dues are only $45 and the four main benefits are:
1) You are supporting an organization with a vital mission of saving rare breeds of livestock and poultry
2) Quarterly newsletter/magazine with excellent articles on how people are saving and using rare breeds throughout the USA
3) Rare Breeds, Breeders and Products Directory
4) Access to the technical and research staff of the Livestock Conservancy.  I have used them myself!

Watusi cow and calf

You may own some rare breeds of poultry now!  Following is how the Livestock Conservancy ranks different breeds of livestock and poultry.  For each category, I have listed the breeds we offer.

Critical: Fewer than 500 breeding birds in the US and five or fewer primary breeders
    Ducks - Welsh Harlequin
    Geese - Buff, Pilgrim and Roman Tufted
Threatened:  Fewer than 1000 breeding birds in the US and seven or fewer primary breeders
    Ducks - Buff and Cayuga
    Geese - Sebastopol
Watch:  Fewer than 5000 breeding birds in the US and ten or fewer primary breeders
    Ducks - Khaki Campbell, Rouen, Black Swedish and Blue Swedish and all our Runners
    Geese - African, Brown Chinese, White Chinese, Large Dewlap Toulouse
Recovering: Breeds that were in another category but have now exceeded Watch numbers
Study: Breeds that are of genetic interest but do not qualify otherwise

Buff Geese - Critical

I was very impressed with the professionalism and passion the staff has with their mission.  It is not a large staff but it is a very dedicated group of believers.

Jeannette, Ryan, Angelique, Chuck, Jennifer, Michele, Anneke, and Alison at a recent Conference

The Livestock Conservancy realizes one of the the best ways to preserve a breed is to make it a profitable animal to raise and sell.  Only then will there be more demand for that breed and more breeders.  Hence the emphasis is on the unique attributes some breeds have in terms of meat taste and texture, capacity to handle challenging environments, ability to reproduce and care for their young, wool quality, etc.  Consumers want a choice in what they purchase.  Heritage breeds of livestock and poultry provide that alternative.

The main activities of the ALBC are:
Research on breed characteristics and populations, and publish an annual Conservation Priority List
Education about genetic diversity, breed attributes, and the role of livestock in a more sustainable agriculture.
Technical, marketing, and promotional support to a network of breeders, breed associations, and farmers.
Assistance to gene banks to identify important genetic materials that should be collected from endangered breeds.
Genetic rescues of threatened populations.

The Livestock Conservancy is a valuable organization to farmers and consumers - now and in the future.  Please consider joining this vital effort to preserve rare livestock and poultry breeds.   I am a member and director and wholly support the mission of the Livestock Conservancy.