We’ve been waiting for the Cayugas to start laying (especially since the other three have been laying consistently for three weeks – no pressure, ya lazy duckers!) and were also anticipating the black/dark gray eggs we’d heard about.

So yesterday when Marcus announced that he’d found a fourth egg, I was a little, well not disappointed per say, but surprised when I saw it.

It wasn’t black.

It also wasn’t as white as the eggs Welshie and the Buffs have been laying, more tan maybe? But definitely not black.

It’s definitely a duck egg because it has the more “matte” finish that duck eggs have. Plus there were the now-expected three eggs from Welshie and the Buffs, one laid in the left-hand nesting box and two in the right.

Or maybe there is a ninja chicken with some pretty mad breaking-and-entering skillz that decided to break in our predator-proof duck pen then somehow get into the even more predator–proof duck house, have some girl-talk with the ducks (I’m sure that all ninja chickens have mad social skillz as well), lay an egg then skedaddle off before Marcus opened up the duck house for the day. All this without leaving any evidence.

Or maybe we missed an egg earlier this week? While it’s true that Friday was only a two-egg day, Marcus and I happened to have both checked the duck house very thoroughly the previous day (as in I actually dig through the top layer of poopy bedding – wearing gloves of course) so it would have been pretty difficult for us to have missed an extra egg. The “new egg” as we’ve been calling it had been laid under the big table and while being decently covered/buried in the straw, Marcus said that it was still plainly visible. So it’s a Cayuga’s First Egg! (Unless one of the ducks hid one of Friday’s eggs really really well then dug it up Saturday night and placed it in plain sight just to mess with us. Hey, I wouldn’t put it past them – after all, what else do they have to do all night besides poop and finalize their plans for World Domination?)

The other reason we think it is someone’s First Egg is its size, which is about the same size as a chicken egg. A young duck/hen’s first eggs are often small until she kind of hits her stride. These are called “pullet eggs.”

For size comparison, here is the New Egg between a brown chicken egg (left) and one of the other duck’s eggs (right)

Maybe one of our Cayugas isn’t a pure Cayuga? Maybe she’s a bit of another breed too? (That’s probably more likely than a ninja chicken or prankster duck.) No matter what, the New Egg is just so cute and precious! And you do have to appreciate that it was somebody’s first try and that she made it all by herself. 😉

From left to right: wooden egg, a pretty brown chicken egg from the farmers market, the cute little New Egg, and a fresh duck egg.