Are my Indian Runners actually Runners?

[Percipen]

Here's a pic of some welshie boys I had to rehome

 

[GranderTheGander]

Yeah this is exactly what I was thinking, I kept seeing photos of people runners on here and thinking mine are waaayyy too fat haha! Interesting to hear about where they inherit certain qualities from though - might look into that more. Thank you!

Well, I noticed that from being around mallards and domestic ducks who mated in a park. A mallard would sometimes obviously have ducklings that weren't all mallard. They would be solid yellow and grow up to be solid white; or they would be dark with a yellow bib, and grow up to be black ducks with white bibs; or mallard color with a whole lot of white mixed in. The mixed ones were always the size, shape and weight of their mothers, though, and could easily fly like mallards, even though their fathers were pekins who could not fly. They would also always pick mallard mates, too, once grown. Same with the few domestic mixed ducklings I saw who survived. Their fathers may have been mallards, but they were always big ducks like their mothers, who could not fly. I don't know if it's true in all cases, but that is what I observed.

 

[DucksAreBest]

they are blue swedish (black) and welsh harlequin but may have a little runner mixed in

x2

 

[Weeg]

they are blue swedish (black) and welsh harlequin but may have a little runner mixed in

Agreed. I can tell they are trying to stand upright, so maybe some runner mix. Definitely Welsh Harlequin and Black Swedish in there though.

 

[AnnasHens]

Here's a pic of some welshie boys I had to rehomeView attachment 2544674

They are so lovely!! I definitely agree on the swedish/welsh harlequin, they look almost identical. Thank you!

 

[cheezenkwackers]

As already stated you have a Black Swedish and a Harlequin drake. I do not think they are mixes. The genes which result in the Harlequin pattern are recessive and have to come from both parents. A first generation mix would never produce the Harlequin pattern. So, I would say poorly informed feed store staff and/or not show quality hatchery. My first two ducks were bought at my feed store as Runners. They were both Khaki Campbell’s!

 

[AnnasHens]

As already stated you have a Black Swedish and a Harlequin drake. I do not think they are mixes. The genes which result in the Harlequin pattern are recessive and have to come from both parents. A first generation mix would never produce the Harlequin pattern. So, I would say poorly informed feed store staff and/or not show quality hatchery. My first two ducks were bought at my feed store as Runners. They were both Khaki Campbell’s!

Yeah we bought them just from our local feed/poultry centre advertised just as runners. It's our first time with ducks so I didn't really know what to look for bar the research I had done online. There were about 15 other ducks advertised as runners available at the same time when we bought ours - it would be interesting to find out what the others have matured to be!

How easy is it to tell the difference between a young swedish/harlequin and a young runner, they were about six weeks when we got them? I'm guessing they look pretty similar just the runners are much skinnier?

Thank you for the super helpful comment!

 

[AnnasHens]

Thank you everyone for the super helpful comments! I'm thinking I might ask the farm if they know any more because I can't remember whether they hatched them themselves or if they outsourced - they might be able to give me a bit more info. I'm not bothered in the slightest that they're not runners we absolutely love them to bits anyway, just want to know how to best look after them!

Since the consensus seems to be Swedish black and Welsh harlequin, what are these breeds like with flying. Are they still to oddly shaped to keep themselves up or do I need to look into clipping their wings a little? They definitely flap about a lot as ducks do but I haven't seen them attempt to actually fly as of yet so I'm guessing I should be good.

Thank you!

 

[fatty and friends]

Thank you everyone for the super helpful comments! I'm thinking I might ask the farm if they know any more because I can't remember whether they hatched them themselves or if they outsourced - they might be able to give me a bit more info. I'm not bothered in the slightest that they're not runners we absolutely love them to bits anyway, just want to know how to best look after them!

Since the consensus seems to be Swedish black and Welsh harlequin, what are these breeds like with flying. Are they still to oddly shaped to keep themselves up or do I need to look into clipping their wings a little? They definitely flap about a lot as ducks do but I haven't seen them attempt to actually fly as of yet so I'm guessing I should be good.

Thank you!

you don’t need to clip their wings, they are too heavy to get far but a happy and healthy duck won’t leave anyways

 

[AnnasHens]

you don’t need to clip their wings, they are too heavy to get far but a happy and healthy duck won’t leave anyways

Just as I thought, thank you!