Help me decide!

[chickensducks&agoose]

Instead of taking the st.run grab-bag duckings at tsc, I am thinking of just adding some lady ducks to my ideal order that ships in 2 weeks... I really like eggs, and nice birds. I got 2 khaki campbells last year, but with the free-ranging, we usually lose at least one or 2 ducks to those evil foxes... So I'm going to grab 2 mallards at tsc (we already have a female, so if we get one male, no problem, if we get both males, we'll rehome 1)... anyway, thinking about runners... what do you think? If you like runners, f&w or black? or one of each?

 

[FenDruadin]

I love Runners. But I'm not sure they're going to solve your predator problem--I've lost Runners as often as anything else.

One thing that has helped me with their free range time was raising a gosling with them (actually, I raised two but one was killed). The goose stands guard over them constantly--I'm not sure when he ever eats or drinks, because he's always standing nearby watching for danger. He warns them quickly, and also protects them. In fact, the way the other goose died was in attacking a dog that was attacking the flock. Although he did not win the battle, he did buy the rest of the flock enough time to escape.

Honestly, there is no one answer to predator problems. Mine are kept locked tight from late afternoon until morning (overnight) in a tried-and-true enclosure (it took us a couple years to perfect it, and I'm sure at some point some predator is going to discover another weakness despite our best efforts--but we keep working at it). During the day, when predators are less active, they are allowed to free range.

Anyway--I like all the Runner colors. Black is stunning with its iridescent sheen of purple and green. Fawn & white is very relaxing to look at. I have some of each, plus blues which are my favorite (but not as popular at present). Good luck whatever you decide!