Indian Runner

I absolutely love my flock of 12 Indian Runners. They are very high energy and quite "quacky" although not as loud as Pekins. They do such a good job foraging, and they are relatively small ducks, so the food to egg ratio is quite good. Chocolate Runners produce light blue eggs about the size of a Chicken's egg but with a slightly different sheen and slightly more rounded shape. The inner membrane is thicker as well. I didn't cuddle them much as babies, so they aren't super interested in being touched, but they don't really avoid me, either. If you got one or two and handled it a lot as a baby, they would make a nice country pet. They are SO funny to watch.

Had to rehome my small flock of runners. They constantly attacked my muscovies and my chickens. Overall, they were nice to people, but not the breed for me.

We ended up getting three fawn and white drakes, when we ordered strait run from Metzer farms. Our three drakes were Howard,(Who we sold), Fred,(Who was very aggressive to my brother and we later sold him also), and Oliver, (Who we still have). All of our runners were easy to tame and were always the funny ones in the flock. All the drakes were all the most gentle to the hens, not force breeding and fighting like other drakes do often. If I were getting more ducks again I would get more runners.


Oliver

Howard

Fred

I really love my female Non-Show Runner Duck, duck-duck:

She is very pretty, it she is kinda loud.she doesn't like to be picked up wich is a downfall.her eggs are yummy but always dirty.i love this breed and would get more if I could!

I will always have runners in my yard. I love them they are easy to raise and fun to watch.

It's true I've only ever had two Runners, but I would gladly get more! They are very funny and have such personality and make me laugh, they are also great eggs layers. The Runner I currently own is the friendliest duck in my flock as well as the most unattached to just one duck, she just like to be with someone. I might get more, they are just a great breed in my opinion. I think they would make a great pet. Some people say they're noisy, but as far as I know I haven't noticed mine being that loud.

I have raised a flock of 10 Indian Runner ducks and the three girls have just started laying. Here are some of my favorite things about runner ducks:

1) They give good duck hugs. They will give a hug by leaning their head against me or by holding their head under my chin. Awwwww. But I do have to catch and hold them first, they're not really the kind to run up to me unless I'm holding green peas. But what a wonderful, graceful long neck! It is fun to hold and pet a runner duck.

2) They will feed within learned boundaries. I can bring my runner ducks to the front yard and they will eat the crickets that make noise under my window. Hurrah! I sleep better now. The runner ducks will feed in the front yard and they don't try to run into the fairly busy street. I do stay with them the entire time they are in the front yard.

3) Ducks are an elementary school teacher's best friends to help teach about animal adaptations. My runner ducks have six adaptations just on their tongue: 1. a thin tip to feel the food in the mud, 2. something that filters the water (looks sort of like a mesh) on the sides of their tongues right behind the tip, 3. hard points on each side just behind that for cutting soft vegetation, 4. a large bump in the middle of the back of their tongue to firmly close their nose while diving, 5. a soft round of tissue behind the large bump that can raise to connect their lungs to the nose hole, 6. and finally at the very back of their mouth some semi-hard spikes pointing to their stomach to prevent slippery fish from going back out of their beaks. That is just the tongue. I have not mentioned the beak or the many adaptations on the rest of the duck. Ducks are so awesome!

4) This is a con, but also really funny... my runner ducks don't look down and will trip over anything in their path. Unless it's tall, they don't go around. So if I leave, for example, a water bottle laying around... the first duck will step on it and may trip. The following ducks, not learning from seeing their friend trip, will also go over the bottle and trip, rather than going around. So four or five ducks in a row can trip over the same water bottle. I have to manage their environment to make sure nothing sharp or dangerous gets left out in their path.

Overall, I just love these funny birds with such awesome personalities.

I love my Indian Runners! They are great birds. They tend to be not so human dependent once they get around other birds. My youngest was always begging for attetion until she left the brooder and joined the flock. Overall, great choice for anybody. I would highly recommend!

I got 3 Fawn and white runners this June and they are really fun to have! Two of them have paired up with ducks of other breeds, and they seem very devoted to their spouses. One of the drakes gets a little aggressive if I come close to him, he will run up to me with his bill open, latch on to my leg and drag behind me for 10 feet or so until he gives up! It doesn't hurt at all and is actually really funny to watch. These ducks are also the easiest to catch, they are quite friendly (excluding the aggressive one) and don't mind being held.

Most people say these ducks are flightless, but they are not all. The other drake can fly about 500 feet, and I think he could go farther if I took him away from the flock. He isn't awkward in flight and rarely crashes. However, he has never tried to fly out of the pen or anything, so that isn't a problem.

I have 1 fawn an white, and 1 crested fawn an white an they are both talktive silly girls. They are not laying yet so cant comment on that but they are always goofing around. The crested one is just fun to look at lol. They can get spooked but being with my other calm ducks helps. They calm down pretty quick as long as they don't get "lost". I had one running in circles when everyone went into the coop an she couldnt figure out where they went. Definatly one of my favs out of the flock though.
***update*** One of my indian runners was the first to start laying right at 20 weeks an has laid 6 days a week so far. Great layer of pretty eggs!!

Indian Runners Prefer Water Over Land, So They Only Need A Small Pond!

I've only had my runner duck for a little while, but I hatched her out of my incubator.
shes very cute and goofy and I love her! she isn't full grown yet but im planning on getting more because I love this breed so much

There's not much to say. I'd recommend them to anyone, they're great!

Great breed! My absolute favourite

I absolutely love my Indian Runners! My three hens are the biggest sweeties ever! They follow me around and love to snuggle!
They are still ducklings but I love this breed! Very comedic and I can just sit there for hours watching them!

Nice ducks very hardy

I had runner forever and I just love them, they are the funniest thing to watch run around the yard. They also take care of our bug problem. Always have had these ducks, and if your don't have them you need to get them.

First, watching a runner duck run is awesome. They can find their own food. They aren't like pekins in water. Mine haven't started laying but I heard their decent.

I have raised most every type of duck and many of those breeds have come and gone but the Runners have always been part of my waterfowl collection. They are fasinating ducks and come in such diversity of colors that they will provide years of enjoyment and challenge your ability if you are interested in breeding the different colors.

I got my first Indian Runners during the summer of 2012. I raised one as a duckling, and the other two were raised with the flock my friend owned. The first one I raised unfortunately died due to health defects. But the other two birds absolutely thrive and are healthy as can be.
My two girls are absolutely unsocialized and that has made handling them tricky. However despite this the birds are easily herded and can be brought into the coop without too much trouble if they don't adhere to the usual schedule.
I feed them on a daily basis, however they don't need to be fed that often as they enjoy and almost prefer foraging. Some days they will ignore the feed I leave for them altogether. They adore water, as all ducks do, and typically spend a majority of their time in the pond.
Being flightless, we haven't been too concerned about them wandering off. The fence we use to keep them in the yard is between two or three feet tall.
My friends flock lays eggs on a daily basis, and we are quite excited for ours to start this spring! Even when they lay fertile eggs, they are too flighty, excitable or uninterested to brood. So having a surrogate brooder or an incubator is typically necessary if you intend on breeding.