As you know, we raise a variety of duck breeds. Some of our ducks are raised for meat and others are raised for egg production. When you look out over our land, you see white ducks (our meat ducks, called Pekins), dark brown ducks (egg ducks, called Khaki Campbells), light brown and multi-colored ducks (egg ducks, called Golden Layers) and black and green iridescent ducks (a multi-purpose breed, called Cayugas).
I was drawn to the Cayugas immediately. Seeing their beautiful green feathers and learning more about their breed, intrigued me! The most amazing thing about them is their eggs! They lay dark colored eggs but the color of their eggs change over time.
Black and gray Cayuga duck eggs. Photo courtesy of https://www.pinterest.com/cmwannabe/
Their first eggs are generally black but they can also be dark gray. The more they lay eggs, the lighter their eggs become. And the very interesting thing about the pigment of their eggs is that the pigment isn’t as permanent as colored chicken eggs (like the green egg laying Americauna birds). With chicken eggs, the pigment stays on the shell even after eggs are cleaned. The pigment on Cayuga eggs, on the other hand, can be partially wiped off during the egg washing process, leaving you with an egg that has gray smears on the outside, rather than an all-black egg.
The end result looks funny, but the inside of the egg looks just like any other duck egg and tastes delicious, just the same!
Now that our Cayuga ducks have started laying eggs more regularly, we are offering our Cayuga eggs for $8.50/dozen and $5.50/half-dozen. These eggs are a novelty to cook with, and kids love looking at the crazy shades of gray that appear in their dozen! Don’t forget to try dying these multicolored, gray eggs for Easter… Your end result might just look tie-dyed!
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