Indian Runner
Indian Runners are a breed of Anas platyrhynchos domesticus, the domestic duck. They stand erect like penguins and, rather than waddling, they run. The females can lay as many as 300 to 350 eggs a year. They were bred on the Indonesian islands of Lombok, Java and Bali. These ducks do not fly and only rarely form nests and incubate their own eggs. They run or walk, often dropping their eggs wherever they happen to be. The breed arrived in the Western world in the 19th century; they have since been bred to have a wide variety of colours.
Description
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Indian Runner ducks vary in weight between 1.4 and 2.3 kg (3.1 and 5.1 lb). Their height (from crown to tail tip) ranges from 50 cm (20 in) in small females to about 76 cm (30 in) in the taller males. The erect carriage is a result of a pelvic girdle that is closer to the tail than other breeds of domestic duck.[2] This structural feature allows the birds to walk or run, rather than waddle, as seen with other duck breeds; they do not fly.[2][3][4][a]
Indian Runner ducks have a long, wedge-shaped head. The bill blends into the head smoothly being as straight as possible from bean to the back of the skull. The head is shallower than is seen with most other breeds of duck. This effect gives a racy appearance, a breed trait. Eye placement is high on the head. Indian Runners have long, slender necks that smoothly transition into the body. The body is long, slim but round in appearance.[3]
Origins
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Indian Runner ducks are domesticated waterfowl from the archipelago of the East Indies (Indonesia).[6] They appear to be represented in stone sculptures in Java from c. 1000 AD.[6] In 1856, the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace recorded in The Malay Archipelago that the ducks in the Indonesian island of Lombok "walk erect, like penguins".[4]
Rice-duck farming
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Rice-duck farming is a polycultural practice of raising ducks as well as growing rice on the same land, providing farmers with additional income, while the manure produced by the ducks benefits the rice crop. This system has existed in different forms for centuries in Asian countries including China, Indonesia, and the Philippines.[7][8]
![Ducks with free access to rice paddies in Bali, Indonesia provide additional income and manure the fields, reducing the need for fertilizer.[7]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ducks_(6337601928).jpg)
Ducks with free access to rice paddies in Bali, Indonesia provide additional income and manure the fields, reducing the need for fertilizer.[7]
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A farmer grazes his ducks in Central Java
Breeding in the Western world
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Arrival
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The Runner became popular in Europe and America as an egg-laying variety towards the end of the nineteenth century largely as a result of an undated pamphlet called The India Runner: its History and Description published by John Donald of Wigton between 1885[9] and 1890.[10] Donald's publication is advertised briefly in The Feathered World, 1895, under the title of "The Indian Runner Duck". Donald describes the pied variety and gives the popular story of the importation into Cumbria (Northwest England) by a sea captain some fifty years earlier.
The breed is unusual not only for its high egg production but also for its upright stance and variety of colour genes, some of which are seen in seventeenth-century Dutch paintings by the d’Hondecoeter family and others.[4] Other references[11] to such domestic ducks use the names 'Penguin Ducks' and 'Baly Soldiers'. Harrison Weir's Our Poultry (1902) describes the Penguin Ducks belonging to Mr. Edward Cross in the Surrey Zoological Gardens between 1837 and 1838. These may well have been imported by the 13th Earl of Derby.[12] Darwin describes them (1868) as having elongated "femur and meta-tarsi", contrary to Tegetmeier's assertions.[13]
The Cumbrian importations, according to Matthew Smith in 1923,[14] included completely fawn Runners and completely white Runners as well as the pied (fawn-and-white and grey-and-white) varieties. The most successful attempt to import fresh bloodlines was by Joseph Walton between 1908 and 1909. Accounts of these ventures can be found in Coutts (1927) and Ashton (2002). Walton shipped in birds from Lombok and Java, revolutionizing the breeding stock which, according to Donald, had become badly mixed with local birds.[15] Further importations by Miss Chisholm and Miss Davidson in 1924 and 1926[16] continued to revive the breed.
Development
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A family of Indian Runner ducks, clearly showing their upright posture
Pure breed enthusiasts, exhibitors and show judges wanted to establish standard descriptions. Standards were drawn up in by the Waterfowl Club in England (1897)[17] and America (1898) for the pied colour varieties. These were largely the same until 1915 when the two countries diverged. The American Poultry Association chose a variety with blue in the genotype whilst the English Poultry Club Standard kept to the pure form described by Donald in his original pamphlet. Other colours followed making use of black genes brought in by some of Walton's birds. These were to produce black, chocolate and Cumberland blue. Later were developed the mallard, trout, blue trout, and apricot trout versions.[18] Slightly different names and descriptions can be found in American and German standards. An account of the influence of the Indian Runner Duck Club (founded in 1906), particularly the input by John Donald, Joseph Walton, Dr J. A. Coutts and Matthew Smith, can be found in Ashton (2002).
The most profound impact of the Indian Runners was on the development of the modern 'light duck' breeds. Before 1900, most ducks were bred for the table. Aylesbury and Rouen ducks were famous throughout the nineteenth century, and these were supplemented or replaced, after 1873–74, by importation from China of the Pekin duck. As soon as the Indian Runners became fashionable, a demand for egg-layers and general purpose breeds developed. Using Runners crossed to Rouens, Aylesburys and Cayugas (the large black American breed), William Cook produced his famous Orpington Ducks. Mrs Campbell crossed her fawn-and-white Runner duck to a Rouen drake to create the Campbell ducks introduced in 1898. Later, she introduced wild mallard blood and managed to create the most prolific egg-layer, the Khaki Campbell (announced in 1901). Other breeds followed, some of which emerged as direct mutations of the Khaki Campbell, along with crosses back to Indian Runners, the most famous being the Abacot Ranger (known in Germany as the Streicher) and the Welsh Harlequin. Currently there are eight varieties of Indian Runner recognized with the American Poultry Association. They are, in order of recognition, Fawn & White, White, Penciled, Black, Buff, Chocolate, Cumberland Blue, and Gray.[2][3]
Colour breeding
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Indian Runner ducks brought in unusual plumage colour mutations. These included the dusky and restricted mallard genes, light phase, harlequin phase, blue and brown dilutions, as well as the famous pied varieties named by the geneticist F. M. Lancaster[19] as the 'Runner pattern'. Much of the proliferation of new colour varieties in breeds of domestic duck begins with the importation of these oriental ducks. Original research by R. G. Jaap (1930s) and F. M. Lancaster has allowed breeders to understand the effect of genotypes in managing and creating colour varieties. Simplified information can be found in writings by Dave Holderread, and Mike and Chris Ashton.[20]
Uses: Utility – Eggs and good for organic pest control, particularly in vineyards.
Eggs: Up to 200 eggs per year.
Origin: East Indies.
Weight: Drake: 1.6 – 2.3 Kg, Duck: 1.4 – 2 Kg.
Classification: Runner.
Colours: Apricot Trout (Saxony), Black, Blue, Chocolate, Fawn, Fawn & White, Mallard, Silver, Trout, White.
Useful to Know: Indian Runners do not originate from India but the East Indies – Malaya, Java and Lombok. They are prolific egg layers that are happier spending most of their time foraging for food than being on water. Probably THE most popular duck that can be found in a multitude of colour varieties.
Indian Runner ducks are possibly the most influential of all of the duck breeds. Many of today’s breeds of light duck have in part been created from the Indian Runner Duck. The Welsh Harlequin, Abacot Ranger and the famous Khaki Campbell for example would not exist if it were not for the Indian Runner.
The Indian Runner is reported to have first appeared in the UK in 1835 and they were originally called Penguin Ducks. The first fawn and white runners were standardised in 1901 with other colours following (see colour varieties below).
Indian Runners are active ducks that enjoy foraging for slugs and insects. One of their original uses in Asia was to clear the paddy fields of pests. They would be driven there in the mornings and rounded up again at night so that they could be kept safe from predators over night. Of course, they are well equipped to cover the distance quickly being able to run at a reasonable pace. In some parts of the World, they are still used in this way. Some organic vineyards in South Africa are starting to use Indian Runner Ducks to clear the vines of pests to avoid the use of chemicals.
Colour Varieties
There are a number of different colour varieties of Indian Runner duck available but the Standards do vary by region. In America there have been 8 colour varieties admitted to the American Standard of Perfection whilst in the UK, the British Waterfowl Standard has 14.
[one_half][callout style=”lightblue” title=”British Waterfowl Standards 2008″ centertitle=”false” align=”left” width=”100%”]There are 14 colour varieties. The Fawn & White was admitted in 1901. The White and the Fawn in 1922, the Black and the Chocolate in 1930, the Mallard, Trout and Cumberland Blue in 1982. Finally, the Apricot Dusky, Blue Dusky, Apricot Trout, Blue Trout and Silver were admitted in 2008.[/callout][/one_half]
[one_half last] [callout style=”darkblue” title=”American Standard of Perfection 2010″ centertitle=”false” align=”right” width=”100%”]The American Standard has 8 colour varieties listed. The Fawn & White was admitted first in 1898 with the White and the Pencilled varieties following in 1914. Finally, the Black, Buff, Chocolate, Cumberland Blue and Gray varieties were all admitted to the Standard in 1977. [/callout][/one_half]
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