Does anybody out there haveRunner Ducks for egg laying, any good?

[RedfogsFlock]

We have a drake, and female runner. We haven't had them long, about a week or two. They are already laying, we have gotten an egg a day. They are huge!

 

[trailhound]

My runner just started laying and her eggs are a really bright blue/green, which is at least fun!

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

We have runners and they are excellent layers. They have slowed down but out of 7 females, we are still getting at least 4 eggs a day if not more. We have them in an outdoor pen and built an attached house for them out of wood. We put a heat lamp inside and turn it on at night, but most of them still prefer to stay out in the pen in the snow. They are quite the characters!

 

[RedfogsFlock]

Quote:
Come to think of it, ours started laying right after we started letting them out to free range!

AND when my hubby started bringing them home treats from work! They are warming up to us pretty quick! My DH was amazed at the eggs, and I told him it's their way of saying thank you for saving them!

 

[Cottage Rose]

If you are interested in ducks with good egg production you really should look into Khaki Campbells.
They lay 300 some eggs a year!

 

[ohiobranchofchickenranch]

Thanks for all the posts I've decided that runners are the way to go they seem to produce large eggs in large numbers pretty regularly I don't want Khaki's because I don't want to put a roof over them on the outside run end of the pen.

 

[Cottage Rose]

Just curious...why do K.C. need a roof over their pen?

 

[Wifezilla]

All ducks should have some way to get out of the weather if they want. Why would you think khakis need a roof and runner's don't?

 

[ohiobranchofchickenranch]

Let me re-phrase I was in a bit of a hurry with my post. I've been told that khaki's will fly unless their wings are clipped, I've also been led to understand that runners are not flyers by nature. I of coure would provide shelter in the form of a coop-like structure completely safe from the weather but I wouldn't have to worry about putting up netting or woven wire fence on the top of the outside run. With the khaki's I would have to do this since I would prefer not having to catch and clip wings regularly.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

We don't have a roof over our runner pen but they do have a house to go into. Our runner eggs are not as big as our other duck eggs but they are a good size and consistent layers. I can't get the egg cartons closed with the Appleyard and Swedish eggs in them but no problem with the runners. I would guesstimate that they are about the size of a large store bought chicken egg.