Advice needed about adopting a couple of runners

[Hil54]

Hi all,
I am pleased to say after the loss of our white runner duck a while back, our other female is now best friends with her new sister. They are the same age from april last year and nest sisters. They hit it off within seconds and are great together. So now heres the thing...

I saw an appeal for a male and female runner both born april 2017, that have grown.up as only ducks together sinds they were born and adopted together.
They are looking for a home together due to the owners health probs.

They are so sweet and very very tame with the owner. Its always a gamble adding new animals in general if they like each other.. obviously, so thats not an.issue here. But seeing as its spring and the paring time is it wise to introduce a couple to our two females and 3 chickens who wander around peacefully in the garden.
I know there are never guarantees but is this wise or asking for trouble? You always hope they hit it off well but im not sure that during paring time that this the right moment is.. and also adding a male to our sisters .
anyone ideas of experience in this matter?
@Miss Lydia or @Loopeend maybe?

Thx in advance Hil

 

[Loopeend]

Hi all,
I am pleased to say after the loss of our white runner duck a while back, our other female is now best friends with her new sister. They are the same age from april last year and nest sisters. They hit it off within seconds and are great together. So now heres the thing...

I saw an appeal for a male and female runner both born april 2017, that have grown.up as only ducks together sinds they were born and adopted together.
They are looking for a home together due to the owners health probs.

They are so sweet and very very tame with the owner. Its always a gamble adding new animals in general if they like each other.. obviously, so thats not an.issue here. But seeing as its spring and the paring time is it wise to introduce a couple to our two females and 3 chickens who wander around peacefully in the garden.
I know there are never guarantees but is this wise or asking for trouble? You always hope they hit it off well but im not sure that during paring time that this the right moment is.. and also adding a male to our sisters .
anyone ideas of experience in this matter?
@Miss Lydia or @Loopeend maybe?

Thx in advance Hil

If the couple is sister and brother; I would pass. No matter what sob-story we humans attach to it Try to prevent inbreeding.

Indian runner ducks can at all times be introduced, no matter what season. But for succeeding the best you can first a few weeks let them get to know each other with a fence between them. They get to know each other without being able to attack each other; leading to less heavy fights when removing the fence. It sounds more heavy then it actually is; all this fighting. They are group-animals and like to be around their own. That is really strong. I never met something like what some chickens do; pecking at some duck like a bunch of mean girls.

Some duck friends would be nice for your duck; but when it means inbreeding I might wait for a better pair of ducks. Or female ducks that are not the same breed and are close relatives.

Good luck

 

[Miss Lydia]

I can only say from my experience that Runners are very accepting when mine hatched in 2016 one runner two Buffsand 3 Muscovy duckling went to a new home 3 days old well s few months later the person didn’t want the Runner female any longer so I took her back I made her a little Pen so they could all get use to each other since they really didn’t know each other at all. As soon as I put that little Runner in the pen the rest of the Runners would not leave her side. So after a while I decided to see what would happen if I just let her down well you’d have thought she’d been with the rest all her young life she just fell in behind and they all ran off together exploring . Very sweet pic. All I can say is it’s def worth a try maybe keep the two newest separate with fencing at first and see how they all react towards one another. I think they will be fast friends!

 

[Texag87]

Never pass up runners

 

[Miss Lydia]

 

[Hil54]

If the couple is sister and brother; I would pass. No matter what sob-story we humans attach to it Try to prevent inbreeding.

Indian runner ducks can at all times be introduced, no matter what season. But for succeeding the best you can first a few weeks let them get to know each other with a fence between them. They get to know each other without being able to attack each other; leading to less heavy fights when removing the fence. It sounds more heavy then it actually is; all this fighting. They are group-animals and like to be around their own. That is really strong. I never met something like what some chickens do; pecking at some duck like a bunch of mean girls.

Some duck friends would be nice for your duck; but when it means inbreeding I might wait for a better pair of ducks. Or female ducks that are not the same breed and are close relatives.

Good luck

Thx for that loopeend. Good news is they are not brother and sister
Just wondered about putting the male in during paring season with a female he grew up with as well. Runners are certainly more sociable than chickens altho what i have here are as placid as can.be together.

 

[Loopeend]

Thx for that loopeend. Good news is they are not brother and sister
Just wondered about putting the male in during paring season with a female he grew up with as well. Runners are certainly more sociable than chickens altho what i have here are as placid as can.be together.

In my experience Indian runner ducks have a more polygamous lifestyle then other duck-species that form pairs. Chances are high that other females, also 'his' long-known female are adopted in the group, even during mating season. You could still put a fence between them like I and Lydia said to make the transition more easy. But it is often quite easy because Indian runner ducks don't pair up like for example Mandarin ducks. They are a bit more loosy goosy's on that subject. Not so stronly monogamous-mating-bonds-for-life. I never encountered maiting-jealousy by females when a drake gets it on with another female. Females often form the group with their own hierachy, and the drake is accepted as part of it, but not so high ranking. But wanted and needed during mating-season. More a structure like elephants. The females are a group; males a loner-species. Unlike wild ducks.

I don't have an explanation for this. Indian runner ducks are island ducks. Maybe there lies an answer why they have slightly different mating and group-forming skills then other duck-species. Being a group instead of forming pairs could be better for pro-creating when the flock is small; compared to wild massive-land ducks in EU or USA that had to deal with all kinds of males flying around forming a thread to pro-creating and succeeding that only your DNA will pass on. This pair-forming tactic on small islands could work out bad when there are not so many to mate with.

 

[Hil54]

In my experience Indian runner ducks have a more polygamous lifestyle then other duck-species that form pairs. Chances are high that other females, also 'his' long-known female are adopted in the group, even during mating season. You could still put a fence between them like I and Lydia said to make the transition more easy. But it is often quite easy because Indian runner ducks don't pair up like for example Mandarin ducks. They are a bit more loosy goosy's on that subject. Not so stronly monogamous-mating-bonds-for-life. I never encountered maiting-jealousy by females when a drake gets it on with another female. Females often form the group with their own hierachy, and the drake is accepted as part of it, but not so high ranking. But wanted and needed during mating-season. More a structure like elephants. The females are a group; males a loner-species. Unlike wild ducks.

I don't have an explanation for this. Indian runner ducks are island ducks. Maybe there lies an answer why they have slightly different mating and group-forming skills then other duck-species. Being a group instead of forming pairs could be better for pro-creating when the flock is small; compared to wild massive-land ducks in EU or USA that had to deal with all kinds of males flying around forming a thread to pro-creating and succeeding that only your DNA will pass on. This pair-forming tactic on small islands could work out bad when there are not so many to mate with.

Wow thx for that. Some great and interesting info. Just what i was looking for.. you guys are great thanks

 

[Hil54]

I can only say from my experience that Runners are very accepting when mine hatched in 2016 one runner two Buffsand 3 Muscovy duckling went to a new home 3 days old well s few months later the person didn’t want the Runner female any longer so I took her back I made her a little Pen so they could all get use to each other since they really didn’t know each other at all. As soon as I put that little Runner in the pen the rest of the Runners would not leave her side. So after a while I decided to see what would happen if I just let her down well you’d have thought she’d been with the rest all her young life she just fell in behind and they all ran off together exploring . Very sweet pic. All I can say is it’s def worth a try maybe keep the two newest separate with fencing at first and see how they all react towards one another. I think they will be fast friends!

Thx miss lydia.
Thats what the one female did when.i got her a new sister after we list the little white runner. I had the new female in the carrier still and they wanted to meet thro the carrier and where making happy noises, so decided to see what happened and they ran.off together within seconds chattering away and foreging. 10 mins later they were swimming together

 

[Miss Lydia]

Another thing I love about Runners is of an evening when everyone starts going in if one doesn’t go in with the rest Snoop the drake will come out and get her. I have three Runner duckling come end of April can’t wait to see how everyone takes