Are my Indian Runners actually Runners?

[Percipen]

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!

As far as telling the difference with ducklings, I tried to find the best pics I could for comparison. The first pic is one of my fawn and white runners and the second is of my buff orpington. The runners have more of a vertical stance whereas nonrunners have a shorter, round stance. Hope that helps a little

 

[Enten4life]

I agree with everyone else here. Don't look like runners.

 

[AnnasHens]

As far as telling the difference with ducklings, I tried to find the best pics I could for comparison. The first pic is one of my fawn and white runners and the second is of my buff orpington. The runners have more of a vertical stance whereas nonrunners have a shorter, round stance. Hope that helps a littleView attachment 2546034View attachment 2546035

Ah yeah can see perfectly thank you! They are so lovely!

Not the best photos but this is what they looked like when we picked them up at about five/six weeks - looking at them now you can probably tell they're not runners? I know what to look for in the future now at least!

Thank you!

 

[GranderTheGander]

Ah yeah can see perfectly thank you! They are so lovely!

Not the best photos but this is what they looked like when we picked them up at about five/six weeks - looking at them now you can probably tell they're not runners? I know what to look for in the future now at least!

Thank you!

Now, I'm confused . . . they DO look like Indian Runners in those duckling pictures!

 

[Enten4life]

Now, I'm confused . . . they DO look like Indian Runners in those duckling pictures!

you're right, they do!

 

[SolarDuck]

Um yeah.. that is very confusing
I thought of your original pics you posted most of them looked too round to be runners, but in one of the pics they kind of looked more upright. Maybe the angle of the pic made them look more round? I want to see more pictures of what they look like now lol

 

[JustAChickenLoverOverHere]

They look just like my ducklings! Except I'm 99.9% sure that mine are runners. Their form is really starting to take shape, it's so cool to watch them grow!

 

[Percipen]

Ah yeah can see perfectly thank you! They are so lovely!

Not the best photos but this is what they looked like when we picked them up at about five/six weeks - looking at them now you can probably tell they're not runners? I know what to look for in the future now at least!

Thank you!

Ok, like the others said, their baby pics look like runners there was another duck post in which they had runner/pekin mixes and the offspring looked almost like magpies. Your guys must be runner mixes

 

[Aunt Angus]

I was about to chime in about how different Runners look even as very young ducklings, and then I saw your pics of them as babies! What the...??? Here's my Runner who, at the time of the pic, was just 2 weeks old vs. one of her non-Runner sisters. You can see she's a bowling pin already.

 

[AnnasHens]

I'm still totally confused as to what they are haha, one moment they look like Swedish/harlequin and then they move and they don't! Someone mentioned about welsh harlequin genes being recessive so only passed on in pure breeds. I've had a bit more of a look online and found this:
https://runnerduck.net/standard-colours.php
Is there any way he could be a silver or trout runner mix, the colourings look very similar to the welsh harlequin but I can't find many pictures of these runner colours online so am not sure. Still seems unlikely though; he matches pictures of welsh harlequins almost identically.

Here are some more photos of them mid-run and then sort of mooching about. Tried to upload video but I couldn't figure put how.

Thank you for all the super helpful thoughts so far!