A Cayuga Duck is a breed of domesticated duck used for egg and meat production as well as an ornamental bird. The Cayuga name is taken from Cayuga Lake, one of the lakes in New York State where the breed was popularized. The traditional story for the development of this breed is that a miller in captured two wild black ducks and used pinioning to keep them at his pond. The offspring of this pair was prized for flavorful meat and breeding efficiency.
The Cayuga breed is in the medium class and is characterized by a black bill and black plumage which is an iridescent beetle green in the correct light. The Cayuga duck has dark brown eyes, black shanks and toes, except in old drakes where some orange shading may appear. Ducklings have black plumage. For exhibition, presence of white color in the outer plumage is a disqualification, but we have some ducks that are almost all white!  
The Cayuga duck may be a nice alternative for some duck owners as its quack is not as loud or frequent as the Pekin. The temperament of the Cayuga is docile and they are good about staying close to home.  We handle our ducks quite regularly, so we can usually just reach down and pick up a duck, including our drake.   The Cayuga duck will more often sit on and hatch her eggs than other domestic breeds of duck.  As for diet, the adult Cayugas enjoy eating snails, slugs, and most other insects.
This breed of duck is listed as threatened by the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy, so we also felt good about trying to keep this wonderful breed of duck going for future generations.