Are my Indian Runners actually Runners?

[AnnasHens]

Hi everyone, this is my first post so hopefully I manage to land it in the right place and get everything right!

I was hoping some of the duck experts on here might be able to help. We bought some lovely ducks from our local farm advertised as ‘Indian Runners’ at about 6 weeks old in August. They now have all their adult feathers and are both drakes. I have been wondering about their colourings which has led me to question whether or not they are actually Indian runners and if they are some sort of cross breed. I think they look way too chunky around the neck and breast area and have a much more horizontal stance than a Runner. My general experience is with chickens; I am totally new to ducks and learning as I go. I am just really interested to try and work out what breed or crossbreed of ducks we are looking after. I feel slightly fraudulent at the moment telling people I have Indian Runners when I don’t think they actually are haha!

Will try to post some photos here as well (hopefully it works). There are a couple of photos where their full feathers hadn't quite come in but I think it's clear where they have. If anyone has any thoughts on breeds and/or colourings it’d be great to hear.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Callender Girl]

I am no expert, but they look much more horizontal and chunkier than my runners. Nonetheless, they are lovely ducks!

 

[Artichoke Lover]

No expert here but they don’t look like runners to me.

 

[GranderTheGander]

No, they aren't tall enough or lean enough to be purebreds. Runners look like really odd ducks. Yours look like normal ducks, such as Swedish types or others. The first time I saw an Indian Runner dumped at a local park I thought it was a starving to death duck, since it was so thin! Maybe their father was a Runner. Ducks, from my observation, usually have the shape, size and flying abilities of their mothers.

 

[Callender Girl]

Well, my runners like to ACT like they are starving to death ducks. They will devour their breakfast and then try to raid all the chicken coops for their feed. They all look lean, but it's definitely NOT from lack of feed.

 

[GranderTheGander]

LOL . . . what so shocked me about seeing one for the first time was there was no extended body behind his front! Really, I thought the poor starving duck had wasted away to the point that he had lost part of his body.

 

[fatty and friends]

they are blue swedish (black) and welsh harlequin but may have a little runner mixed in

 

[AnnasHens]

No, they aren't tall enough or lean enough to be purebreds. Runners look like really odd ducks. Yours look like normal ducks, such as Swedish types or others. The first time I saw an Indian Runner dumped at a local park I thought it was a starving to death duck, since it was so thin! Maybe their father was a Runner. Ducks, from my observation, usually have the shape, size and flying abilities of their mothers.

Yeah this is exactly what I was thinking, I kept seeing photos of people runners on here and thinking mine are waaayyy too fat haha! Interesting to hear about where they inherit certain qualities from though - might look into that more. Thank you!

 

[AnnasHens]

they are blue swedish (black) and welsh harlequin but may have a little runner mixed in

I was thinking around the realms of welsh harlequin and swedish but I feel too inexperienced to be able to label definitively myself! Thank you!

 

[Percipen]

I'm pretty sure you have a black swedish and a welsh harlequin there. They are beautiful boys!