indian runner ducklings!

[animalloverabh]

hi im going to get some runners...i think...or is there a better ″lapduck~? any advice on better duck or indian runners

 

[chickensducks&agoose]

our pekin is the sweetest of all of our ducks. She LIKES us. the others don't really.

 

[animalloverabh]

hi, i had a pekin once..it hated me

 

[Sweetfolly]

Dutch Hookbills are the calmest, naturally friendly, most docile ducks I've ever had.

 

[Duck_feeder]

it's all in how you raise your ducks and their individual personality.

We have 6 runners that all were raised very similarly to make them very socialized with people. If you don't do that, no duck will be a lap duck.

Personalities makes a huge difference too - One duck, Moxy, is more than happy to sit on my lap for extended periods of time. Victor will lay on his back in my lap when he's in the mood for it. The other ducks don't really care for lap sitting.

 

[Wokawidget]

Any animal can be tamed...the most important thing is not the animals personality...but the owners.
If you beat them with a stick every day while shouting "JUMP THROUGH THE HOOP!!!!" then I can assure you that you will end up with an animal that will won't be friendly in the slightest and will plot it's revenge over the next few years.
If you are calm, gentle and persistant you can turn any animal into a lap animal...although I've never tried with a white shark...maybe that's next years mission.

I have a runner and campbell...campbells are supposed to be skittish, but mine is friendly and calm and chases me around the garden if she wants a stroke.
Both are quite happy to sit in your lap and watch tv.

Woka

 

[KristaChickenWhisperer]

I had a Pekin that we gave a lot of attention to as a duckling and it grew up to be like a little dog. He would follow us around and when I had him at the state fair I would sit with him on my lap and he would let kids come up and pet him. He also loved to snuggle!!

However my Khaki Campbell was raised with my chickens so she didn't get too much human interaction so she really wasn't a people duck.

That being said I think it isn't so much the breed but rather the way you raise them.

 

[animalloverabh]

ok, so i doent matter what breed?
i raised ducks before but in there last few weeks of bieng ducklings they had to stay with my dad and after staying with him , when i camme to see them they ran away(they used to run up to me)...and i thought all call ducks were like this so thats why this year i thought that i should get runners as i thought they were tamer..but this year im not going to give them to my dad !

would that make a differance?

 

[Parrotchick]

My Runners and Crested Pekins are 16 days old today. I intereact with them regularly and they run up to eat out of my hand but HATE being held. My two Pekins last year were the same way. But my muscovy drake has always been a lap duck. I wonder if it's because all but the muscovy were raised with other ducklings, so if I tried to put one or two on my lap, they sqeak for their mates and try to get back to them. You'd think I was trying to kill them the way the fuss and squirm. Since the muscovy had nobody to get back to, he figured he might as well put up with me. Now he follows me all over the yard and is calmest when he is on my lap.

 

[CityChicker]

I really think tameness depends on a number of different factors. I believe that temperament is somewhat inherited (something I have recently seen echoed by another very large scale breeder). Runners, in general, are known for being rather skittish. That said, I have some Runners that are extremely calm and friendly, about as close to "lap-ducks" as you can get, despite having been raised in large groups. I do think though that the number raised together does, in general, affect tameness as does the personality of the person doing the raising.

All that aside, I think some generalizations can be made about breeds as well. Some breeds have a higher percentage of outgoing, friendly, calm individuals than others (again, IMHO, and not discounting that there are exceptions to every rule, my tame Runners are an example). In my ducks, my Mini Appleyards have always been some of my most friendly. Now that I am raising Overbergs, I have to say that they are right up there with the Mini Appleyards in friendliness. Also as Annarie said, in my experience, Dutch Hookbills are also quite calm and friendly. Other people have had good experiences with other breeds. Really as others have said, almost any breed can produce a very friendly duck if it is raised with lots of attention.