Indian runner ducks

[pie-eater 377]

How much noise do they make? I have a road that runs down the side of my garden with a couple of bungalows the closest being about 15 metres away, are they likely to be disturbed by them at this distance? Was thinking of keeping about 6.

Thanks

[Rabid 1,936]

Indian runners ain't too noisy, it's usually cockerels people moan about as they start too early for a lot of folk, but ducks generally only make any noise when out and about

[PeskyWabbits 464]

I have 4, they are very chatty. If something catches their interest, they will run up and down quacking.

It isn't really a nuisance, dependent on how precious your neighbours are.

My neighbour can be really finickety but she has never said anything about the ducks.

Most people find their behaviour cute or charming.

I have found they don't mix with ducklings. They aren't deliberately cruel but because they like running up and down, they trample anything in their path.

You will get a lot of eggs from the females but not much meat on them. 

[greg64 2,818]

muscovies are quiet compared to other ducks 

[Billy b 762]

They ain't too bad

depends how poxy the people round you are 

as someone mentioned there heard most when they twig something that gets their attention 

[pie-eater 377]

Thanks everyone sounds worth a try then. Greg I did look at muscovy but they seem hard to contain in a garden to me. 

[forest of dean redneck 11,559]

I looked at ducks but they seem to make a lot of mess

i think I would go with muscovies and put a net roof  on the run ?

[pie-eater 377]

46 minutes ago, forest of dean redneck said:

I looked at ducks but they seem to make a lot of mess

i think I would go with muscovies and put a net roof  on the run ?

Yeah i did consider that but I really want to let them range over the garden. I dont think muscovies lay much either?

[forest of dean redneck 11,559]

Dunno eggs would be for baking mainly or homemade Yorkshire puddings 

They wouldn't be able to match runner ducks ,didn't they have a strain that would outlay chickens??

[pie-eater 377]

I've heard up to 200 eggs a year for runners.

[17hornet 188]

Got 3 Indian Runners in my yard, 2x female 1x male, had them for 9 years now, no bugs or mice in the yard, no grass either now as they love anything green.

They do make a mess with poop if contained in a yard, like plenty of water but are very quiet in our yard unless low on feed.

I have found ours to be very hardy, stand their ground to cats, when the birds were younger we would eat their eggs which have very rich yolks but watery whites, so they are great for baking cakes, cup cakes, deserts, we did eat them as eggs in the middle of toast fried. They did produce some young but they didnt survive mums own feet, and the Springer kept retrieving the odd one too

But never any complaints from neighbours as they are so quiet.

Fence off their zone or foot path, feed them well, plenty of water - try a pair first before going 1/2 dozen, big wingspan but not likely to ever take flight even though they can, they also are communal birds liking company. ( Dogs, Goats, Rabbits, kids......)

Oh yeah, I use an auto battery feeder under a large plastic drum 2x wheat and 1x barley mix, with occasional corn by hand, food scraps including meat bits, they love the protein of meat and happily eat it, mice have no chance, small birds, lizards etc.  The feeder takes a lot of effort away when it holds 3 months of feed, twice a day feeding.

Pics will be added tomorrow, 9.00pm Friday night here.

Had Muscovies, prefer the Indian Runners.

 

Edited November 24, 2017 by 17hornet

[pie-eater 377]

I have a nice size garden, it's about 45 metres long 15 wide so I was hoping with a largish area they wouldn't completely destroy the grass. I'm going to buy a dozen eggs online if I hatch a few ill sell some and keep a pair to start. I'm glad they stand up to cats the neighbours have a couple. Was thinking about getting a big paddling pool fitting a plug and digging a big soakaway underneath so it can be drained and cleaned easily. 

[17hornet 188]

I will get those pics up.

They will love the paddling pool, the water will spend its time a little dirty as they will wash their food, beaks, selves. They love to wet the ground and start to dig into it once it is wet, add more water, dig more, I assume it is to extract fine gravel to aid in breaking down their food in the stomach, but the result is a bit of a mess. So I took away the pool and gave them a smallish plastic tub to hold water only - thats always full of fine mud when I clean it out.

45m x 15m is a great garden space, if they get around a lot it might be alright, but as dogs do, they will find their favourite places to be and that area will get pounded, we do that too, so you cant blame them. Your climate is not anywhere as dry as ours so the grass may recover fast, here we get 3wks of over 36C at a time with no rain so our grass is on a fine edge of life or desert.    We live in the driest State of the driest Continent, our grass is a little unlucky.

[pie-eater 377]

Yeah I'm thinking when we have a couple of days rain might be the problem, I'd imagine thats when theyl start wrecking the lawn.

[17hornet 188]

Nah, rain is never the problem if they have water, if there is a low spot gathering water that is where they will be, if drainage is good they will look for the low spot and go paddling.

Get a pair and test the idea, a pair you can sell off or .... at least do some thing quickly to resolve.

and YES I badly need to tidy my yard.      You will notice how dry our environment is, they fair fine and are quite old as Ducks go.

 

The feeder drum... the joint between the drums is about waist height.

 

The feeder unit under the main drum holding feed. This spins out feed that is contained to one place by the inverted drum base.

 

Sealed water proof lid

 

The Ducks.... two females and one male (the dark one)