indian runner ducks - talk to me about them.

[Alagirl]

I am a poultry novice (n00b, to be precise)
This spring I bought 5 chicks. My husband wanted ducks.
and lordy ducklings are so precious.
However, we have no natural water source on the property, so I declined.
I am partial to runner ducks though, because they are just so goofy looking, they make me smile.
I had considered getting 2. And males I thought were cool since I do not need their eggs.
Then I learned that drakes are not so nice to have around hens.
I understand the dietary needs are different than those of chickens. Runner ducks also need their bathing puddle?
I have hawks in the vicinity and a Dachshund with a high prey drive.
The lot is small, in a suburban setting.
Am I just setting myself up for heartache if I get 2 ducklings?

 

[igorsMistress]

Runners are fun and ducks are fun in general. They are very messy though. They’ll need at least a kiddie pool to swim in and you’ll be changing the water daily. They love mud also, and anywhere there’s mud they’ll be making holes in the dirt. It would be best to cut some holes in the side of a bucket for a separate waterer for ducks as they need to wash their faces and will make a mess in it, poor chickens. Also, my ducks didn’t care how cold it was, they’d often have a bath before bed, so if you plan to keep them in the coop with your chickens you’ll need to accommodate for added moisture…if they’ll sleep in the coop. Mine preferred not to and slept outside.

I would have ducks again, Runners especially because they’re so fun to watch in the yard. Mine were super sweet and they LOVE peas. Like every day, so I used to buy them frozen and give them as treats. I’m on a fifth of an acre and five hens plus two ducks would work here.

Forgot to add, you can provide an All Flock feed and it would work for both ducks and chickens, but you’ll want separate feeders because ducks go from food to water and back so they tend to get it a bit wet.

 

[Texag87]

I would suggest you get female runners for a couple of reasons. First, a drake might hurt your chickens. Second, the runners are the lightest ducks that do not really fly. They do not eat near as much as a normal domestic duck.

 

[Colley12]

I have 3 runners on my small lot. I just got them this summer. I love mine, they are super silly and fun to watch...but yes they are super messy. We live in the pacific NW, where we get alot of rain. It rained for multiple days continuously for 4-5 days and my lawn is pretty much destroyed. They trampled and dug holes in any standing water in the yard.

We have a small kiddie pool that we clean out on a regular basis and 2 different buckets of water for them to drink out of and deep enough to dunk heads. I don't have any chickens so can't attest to that, but our whole family, including the husband love watching the ducks and he doesn't seem too upset by the mess.
Mine in the height of the water mess. The black guy went to another home on Sunday, but you can see part of the yard...I started putting their old shavings in the yard just to soak up the water and it gives rhem something to peck through.

 

[Isadora]

I am a poultry novice (n00b, to be precise)
This spring I bought 5 chicks. My husband wanted ducks.
and lordy ducklings are so precious.
However, we have no natural water source on the property, so I declined.
I am partial to runner ducks though, because they are just so goofy looking, they make me smile.
I had considered getting 2. And males I thought were cool since I do not need their eggs.
Then I learned that drakes are not so nice to have around hens.
I understand the dietary needs are different than those of chickens. Runner ducks also need their bathing puddle?
I have hawks in the vicinity and a Dachshund with a high prey drive.
The lot is small, in a suburban setting.
Am I just setting myself up for heartache if I get 2 ducklings?

Personally I would skip the ducks at this time due to your small suburban setting. They will quickly make a mud hole out of any area you have set up for that.
My ducks have a movable coop and fencing, and I have a lot of options about where to put them. They can make a mess very quickly but it doesn't matter since I have a lot of property.
They are definitely adorable, but I bet the mess alone would drive you nuts in that small space.

However, if you decide you want to try it anyway, I would get two adult females. Like you mentioned, you don't want drakes because they will injure the chickens if they try to mate with them. But getting ducklings you can't guarantee the sex if you buy them from a farm store, so buying adult females will be the best way to go.
Adult female ducks can eat regular chicken feed. Just supplement with some extra niacin ( You can use yeast flakes)to make sure they don't get deficient in that.
They will be the most happy if you provide a small kiddy pool for them to bathe in, but at the very least they need a water dish/bucket or something to dunk their whole head into so they can clean their nares and eyes.

 

[Quatie]

I have three runners and really love thier personalities. They are definitely the most skiddish ducks I have, but they are still fairly social and pretty easy to tame. They are overall super sweet and tend to be less confrontational than my other breeds. They are more likely to lay blue eggs than any other ducks breed. Runners also make very cute cackling like sound when they are happy. None of my other ducks do this.

The only huge downside I have had with them is two out of three had prolapses and they are not yet two years old. I have read of other people having laying issues with runners as well. I caught the prolapse early on, so both bounced back quickly. I have 27 female ducks and only my runners have had this issue.

 

[Isadora]

They are more likely to lay blue eggs than any other ducks breed.

Ah, yes! Several of my runner girls lay blue eggs.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I have 8 ducks. I LOVE my ducks. So much. But lordy, they are messy! I thought chickens could be dirty, but the mess of 20 chickens is pretty insignificant when compared to my ducks. And they are very, very noisy. Both mess and noise might be problematic in suburbia. Two might not be too bad, though. Any more than that, and you might be up to your eyeballs in stinky, wet, muddy mess.

 

[Callender Girl]

I LOVE my messy runner ducks! I only have seven right now -- five talkative females and two mumbling drakes. They sleep in their own shelter at night where they have a dog watering dish that sets on top of a plastic boot tray to reduce the messiness.

Honestly, they do make a lot of mess. So do people's kids, but -- for the most part -- parents keep them anyway . In my mind, mucking out the duck mess is a wretched job, and I complain every single time. But runners are so entertaining that I'm willing to hold my nose (figuratively, because it takes both hands to clean out the stuff) so I can enjoy their antics and beauty.

They are fairly prolific layers during the warmer months who take a winter break. My girls, who are all from the same breeder, lay white eggs. My first girl from the same place laid a lovely pale green.

Because of their undersized wings, runners are easily contained with the shortest and most flimsy of fences. One of my girls was able to fly as high as a 4-foot run -- for about 2 seconds before she dropped to the ground like a lead weight.

During the day, they are loose with almost two dozen chicken hens and a pair of geese. I have never had an issue with the runner boys trying to mate the chickens. However, during the spring when their hormones are peaking, the drakes are relentless in pursuing the duck girls.

They do love to bathe, regardless of weather. I have put away the kiddie pools for the winter, but I still have a small, rigid plastic stock tank, maybe 5 gallons or so, that is deep enough for a bath and much easier to handle for me. As long as I chip the ice away or melt it with a high-powered hair dryer, the runners will be happy to climb in for an ice-water dip.

Winters here get pretty frigid, but the runners will often venture out of their shelter, fold their legs underneath and "sun bathe" in the snow.

One of the things that I truly love about runners is their overall appearance -- their unique physique and the incredible range of colors and patterns.

Let me just repeat: I LOVE runner ducks!

 

[BelovedBirds]

I have 3 runners on my small lot. I just got them this summer. I love mine, they are super silly and fun to watch...but yes they are super messy. We live in the pacific NW, where we get alot of rain. It rained for multiple days continuously for 4-5 days and my lawn is pretty much destroyed. They trampled and dug holes in any standing water in the yard.

We have a small kiddie pool that we clean out on a regular basis and 2 different buckets of water for them to drink out of and deep enough to dunk heads. I don't have any chickens so can't attest to that, but our whole family, including the husband love watching the ducks and he doesn't seem too upset by the mess.
Mine in the height of the water mess. The black guy went to another home on Sunday, but you can see part of the yard...I started putting their old shavings in the yard just to soak up the water and it gives rhem something to peck through.
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I don't have runners, or chickens. But if you got two female runners, I think it could be manageable. The main issue I imagine would be the wet mess and how that affects your chickens. If you could give them a separate coop/duck house, and just a small pool to keep the mess somewhat separated, maybe it could be do-able.

I am in a town, on a street full of neighbours. I only have two ducks, I have a decent sized garden, but three big dogs. So I have to keep my ducks penned. In their little space, yes it does get muddy and poopy, but its not too bad to keep on top of with it just being the two of them. If they were free ranging on the lawn in the rain, or with a pool on the grass, yes it would get muddy and ruin the grass.

As for noise, not an issue for me. My girls arent runners, but they arent exactly a quiet breed mix either-- and because its just the two of them, they're not loud. They chatter to eachother pretty quietly, rarely quacking loudly. Neighbours close by, no complaints.

If I got more I think it would be an issue, one would quack excitedly and the rest would all jump on the conversation-- but right now its more
"OOH A WORM"
"I SEE IT"
and then they just settle down because all there is to say.