Runners, I might get one.

[Pet Duck Boy]

Someone very nice has offered me a male runner for later this year. They are doing a spring hatch and offered to give away one of their drakes around fall. They live close to me so they can drop it off, my parents said they are fine with it as long as they don't have to drive anywhere...lol. I don't like the upright posture too much, but I really don't care. As long as Sunny is happy. How are they personality wise? I've heard they can be skittish. Are they loud? Does Sunny, my 8 month old female pekin have any chance of bonding to another duck? By the time I get the drake she'll be over a year probably...how would I introduce the two? Can runners and pekins crossbreed? Thanks.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

anyone?

 

[houndit]

They are hilariously funny! I love them as much as Muscovies. They can be tamed. They are a really good breed.

 

[kingpincray]

you can cross breed them. The indian runner drake is very quiet, you probably won't know its there.

 

[Sweetfolly]

A free Runner drake - with free delivery too! That sounds like a great deal!

Personality wise...well, it varies by bird. I have a pair of Runners, and my little duck, Maisie, is a big sweetheart and the most confident duck in my flock - she's always the first to investigate anything. My drake, Rubee, is...well, a drake

He's a little pushy and...well, mean with the other ducks, and he's the dominant drake in the flock (when everyone's penned together). But, like I said, it varies by bird. What I can tell you is that my Runners have been handled since they were a few days old, are not at all skittish. The personality of your drake will depend on how much time the people who hatch him spend with him.

Drakes in general aren't loud. They're too whispery and raspy to get the volume to a irritable level.

To introduce the Sunny to a new duck, I would put the new duck someplace where they can see and hear one another (while being physically separated) for about a week. After a week of getting over the novelty of a new duck being around, I'd let them loose together and carefully monitor their behavior. Ducks can get nasty with one another - my Runner drake has bit at other ducks and ripped out bill-fulls of feathers - however, with just two ducks, I think they'll be happy for the company, and will get along just fine; and yes - they will cross-breed! Sunny probably won't incubate her eggs though (Pekins rarely do - they start, and then get bored and abandon the nest halfway through), so you'd have to buy/build an incubator if you wanted to hatch any.

 

[duckyfromoz]

A free Drake- Thats a lovely offer these people have made . Im sure if introduced slowly with supervision they will become inseperable, annarie's advise about keeping them seperated for a while where they can see each other is good advise. Sunny would love the company I am sure. I never even hear my Runner drakes unless I am sitting right next to them outside.

Do you know what colout your drake might be?? Just wondering as I thought that way someone may be able to give you an idea of what any offspring may look like.