Breed ID?

[rarebreedeggs4u]

We bought Crested Runner Ducks eggs in the spring as an addition to an e-bay purchase (otherwise I'd have some recourse). Only one sweet little duckling hatched (our fault, it was our first waterfowl hatch) so we raised her with our turkey poults. She's obviously not a Runner. When I contacted the seller (who I'd already had interesting issues with) they replied that "some of our runner ducks look like that". Huh?

Since I did WANT Runners, I bought a trio and have raised several babies and sold lots of eggs from them in the last couple of months. We're thrilled with them, but sad that "Delbert" can't live with them. She's terrified of them anyway and LOVES her bestest turkey friends. That's not going to work when the toms start to mature though

I really am curious about this girl and what breed(s) she is. She is such a pretty girl! She and her turkey buddies are pretty adorable

 

[Muscovy Man]

She is a Crested Runner Duck

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[rarebreedeggs4u]

Quote:
I do hope you're joking?

If not, are Crested Runners are that different that regular Runners? She has a completely different stance & carriage. She is like night and day with my other Runners? She walks & waddles, they run and look COMPLETELY different.

 

[FenDruadin]

Looks like a crested runner to me, too--fawn & white. I've never seen that color pattern in any other breed, but I be wrong on that. It is true that the stance is highly variable. I have some Holderread (top quality) Runners in my yard right now and they look like wine bottles--very tall and skinny. I also have some McMurray (production quality) Runners, and they look about halfway between the Holderread stance and a standard duck stance--upright, but not by far as upright as the other Runners.

If the stance in the picture is pretty standard for your girl, it could easily just be a poor Runner stance. Personally, since I am planning to breed, I am upgrading my stock to Holderread. I think that if a person is going to raise birds for sale, it's important to try to improve or at least not worsen, the breed as a whole. I'm not a snob about it--I totally think McMurray stock is great for folks who just want a backyard flock--but if I'm going to be sending out ducks into the world, I want them to represent the breed they are representing, lol. So I plan to continue to select for the better stances and the more Runner-like looks.

But not all breeders feel the same. Many feel that if their birds are healthy and productive, that's good enough. And in that case, the breed standard is often not selected for and the birds can end up looking very different from the standard. I suspect that has happened in this case.

Since this was an "extra" on your order, she probably just had some extras from her production flock and figured she'd throw them in. I wouldn't hold it against the seller, but if you want "typey" birds, it's clear you're better off buying them elsewhere.

And I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing about the turkeys getting randy with your poor girl. I hope she figures out who she is before that happens!!!

 

[rarebreedeggs4u]

You learn something new every day

I actually added Crested Runner Ducks eggs to my order of a chicken breed from them. The issue I had was with NPIP paperwork, not the eggs

I didn't know there was such a variance in stance with Runners. These are my other kids, so I hope you can see why I was so confused~LOL

Poor Delbert! Ranger (the Runner Drake) LOVES her and she's scared to death of him!

 

[FenDruadin]

Very nice looking birds you have there--yes, much nicer stances, and pretty colors too! I especially love the one on the far left. The black one looks like it has a stance similar to my McMurray stock birds. I wish I had a picture, but my computer is ancient and pictures are not in its repertoire at present. When it croaks I'll have an excuse to upgrade but until then...

Another thing occurred to me--often when a breeder is selecting for a particular trait, such as crested, they will choose birds for that trait first and ignore the basic good standards for the breed in favor of the particular trait they want to pursue. Follow those changes through several generations and you may have a strain of crested birds that looks very little like the original breed but still technically, in genetic terms, qualifies as the original breed. This especially happens with small breeders who have a limited gene pool to select from and so in order to get the special trait they want, may have to work with birds who are otherwise inferior.

But, as you already said, she is still beautiful, even if she doesn't look like a Runner.

I'm glad you like her anyway.

 

[rarebreedeggs4u]

She's a good girl

She's too funny though. She hates water except for washing her face. I guess that's a good thing, since we don't want her turkey buddies trying to swim

Thank you for the compliments on the kids. Their babies are pretty different colors. Since the drake is a non-standard color, we knew we'd get a lot of variety! We ended up with 1 white one from the batch we kept. They're out in the yard finding a cool-er spot right now.

 

[FenDruadin]

What color *is* your drake? He looks like maybe a cross between a fawn/white and a silver/splash? Maybe? He's very pretty, anyway, and from the picture I thought he was either a white who was moulting or in poor lighting, or a silver/splash. Any idea what his genetic background is?

 

[Muscovy Man]

No I am NOT joking. That is strange about her body shape though, I have no idea.

 

[FenDruadin]

Okay, I figured out a way to get some pictures on here. Sorry for the quality, but my computer won't speak to my camera, but it's on friendly terms with my phone, so these are phone pics. Note the stance of the black runner, and the colors of the fawn/white runners. Do those stances look about like your crested girl?