All about Indian runner ducks

Part I Page

Frontispiece 6

Preface 7

A Treatise on the Indian Runner Duck 8

Origin and History 9

Varieties 11

Claims ._ 17

Hatching __^ 18

Brooding 24

Feeding 26

Housing '_ 31

Marketing 39

Mating 42

A Friendly Warning 44

Advice to Beginners 46

Questions and Answers 48

DuckDont's 50

Part II Personal Experiences

PAGE

Mrs. Andrew Brooks 60

Mrs. U. R. Fishel 79

B. R. Inman_. 80

Part III Reliable Advertisements

PAGE

Petaluma Incubator Co. 83

J. G. Hermann & Co._. 84

Monarch Publishing Co. 84

Inland Poultry Journal 1 85

Indiana Electrotype Co. : 87

Mrs. D. 0. Teasley 88-89

Hillcrest Poultry Farm 90

Mrs. Andrew Brooks 91

The A. D. Hosterman Co. 92

MRS. D. O. TEASLEY, Anderson, Ind.

Manager Monarch Poultry Farm, State Secretary of the National White Indian Runner Duck Club for the state of Indiana, and member American White Orpington Club.

Preface

f The need of a reliable work on the Indian Runner duck is so

obvious to poultrymen that no apology is necessary for the ap- ,

pearance of this book.

In addition to what I have learned from experience, I have consulted the best books extant on the Indian Runner, and have endeavored to reduce the knowledge thus gained by experience and research to a condensed, unified and practical form.

I am not sanguine enough to think that I know everything there is to know about the Indian Runner duck, but I have the honor to have associated with me in Part II of this book three other prominent breeders — Mrs. Geo. R. Simpson, Mrs. Andrew Brooks, and Mrs. U. R. Fishel, who have each contributed a chapter on the particular variety in which she is especially interested. I think, therefore, that I am justified in giving this book the title, All about Indian Runner Ducks.

MRS. D. 0. TEASLEY, Anderson, Ind., January, 1912.

Part I. A Treatise On

THE INDIAN RUNNER DUCK

By

Fancier and Breeder

Anderson, Ind.

All About Indian Runner Ducks.

CHAPTER I Origin and History

The Indian Runner duck came originally from India; hence the name "Indian." The term "Runner" is supposed to have been taken from the fact that they literally run instead of waddle, as do other ducks. The origin of the Indian Runner duck, like the origin of many other good things, was little thought of until she became popular. It is singular that money will make even a duckpopular. So long as we were ignorant of her money-making abilities, we were no more interested in the origin of the Indian Runner than in that of the pud';'e duck, but as soon as she was found to be a money-maker, the whole country Dct-ame interested in this wonderful fowl, and we naturally inquire, where did she come from?

Whether it is due to the fact that we are inclined to think, as many other people are inclined to think of their country, that nothing good could originate very far from America, or whether it was a mistake, somehow the story got out that the Indian Runner duck came originally from the West India Islands. Some believe that it was due to a printer's accident that changed the letter "E" in East to "W." After this error it was easy, by supplying "e" for "a," to upset the whole geography of the earth and bring the original home of our beloved duck twelve thousand miles westward. In whatever way the story got started, it is now disproved, and no well-informed breeder believes the West Indies tale.

The most plausible story has it that the Indian Runner is a native of India. They were discovered, it is said, by an English sea-captain who, attracted by their lively movement!, upright carriage, and by the stories of their wonderful egg production, captured them and took them to England. Mr. C S. Valentine quotes an English breeder as saying: "The earliest history of the fowl (the Indian Runner; that can be gathered is that they were closely associated with the ancient Hindus of India iooo years B. C. The V\ird appealed to them through its fighting qualities. Thus it was that the fowl was first domesticated, not for its food value so much as for its sporting qualities. It was principally located in the Punjab, Northern India; its culture spread over India, then distributed through the islands oi the Indian Ocean and into China, and ^s civilization increased ana commerce and colonization commenced it gradually worked its way through the Malay archipelago into Persia, and thence into the European countries." Mr. Valentine does not give the foregoing as absolute facts, but he says himself: "The peculiar running gait, it is thought, seems proof of the Indian Runners being survivors of the fittest, long ago, in a barren region lacking in vegetation and abundant in insect life, where the usual type of waddling duck would have perished from want of sufficient sustenance, through sheer inability to forage so fast and so far." Though both of these stories sound considerable like fables of the East, there may be, after all, seme truth in them. At any rate, it seems conclusive that the Indian Runner is a native of India and not of the West India Islands.

The history of the Indian Runner in England has been traced back, with more or less distinctness, for a period of eighty years. After going back about forty years, however, the history becomes somewhat hazy. About the only definite knowledge we have is that they were first known to Britain in County Cumberland in the north of England. They are now bred extensively in the British Isles. Mr. J. W. Walton, Secretary of The Indian Runner Duck Club of England, is probably the most extensive English breeder well known to Americans.

About fifteen years ago the Indian Runner was imported from England to this country. Here it was bred by but few until about 1904 or 1905 ; since which time it has been constantly growing in favor. At present there are in America no less than three distinct varieties or colors. The latest American Standard of Perfection calls for a light fawn and white color. Those known as the English standard ducks are a darker brown with a light brown penciling. More recently the pure white variety has made its appearance. This, in a brief way, brings the history of

IO the Indian Runner down to the present time. In part second of this book will be found some further notes on the history of the Indian Runner duck.

CHAPTER II Varieties of the Indian Runner Duck

There are three varieties of the Indian Runner — the English penciled, the American Standard or light fawn and white, and the pure white. Each variety has its friends as well as its foes. "All the ways of a man are right in his own eyes," especially if he is after the dollar. The breeder of the penciled duck would have us believe that his variety is the only Indian Runner worthy the name; that all others are worthless mongrels. The breeder of the light fawn and white duck tells us that his is the only true Indian Runner and that the old unimproved penciled variety will soon be a thing of the past. Breeders of the white Indian Runner have not been in business long enough to tell us much about their ducks, but among the first phrases we hear from them is, "Best of all." The reason why most breeders think their ducks "the only pebbles on the beach" is too obvious to the most of us to need comment — they have "an axe to grind."

Since the history of the Indian Runner is lost in the dim spectre of the past, and since we can not trace them distinctly even for one hundred years, probably no reliable breeder would care to say upon his oath that any one of the three varieties has never consorted with any other breed of ducks. It is commonly conceded, I believe, that until twenty-five or thirty years ago the Indian Runner duck in England, its first western home, was not very carefully bred. For fifty . years or more, therefore, the original stock brought from India had abundant opportunity to mix with other ducks ; and since the Indian Runner duck is not a very strict monogamist, it may be, after all, that even the English penciled duck is somewhat of a mongrel. At the Madison Square Garden Show, Dec, 191 1, was exhibited an Indian Runner said to be imported direct from India. I saw the duck, or rather, the drake, but I am unable to say from positive evidence whether it came from India or not, or if it did come from India whether it was a pure Runner or a cross with some wild breed. We do not

II have to argue long to convince a reasonable man that the American Standard light fawn and white varity possesses some blood foreign to the original Indian Runner, and, could the White Pekin duck speak for her family, she would doubtless tell us something about where the white Indian Runner got her frock. Some of the white Runners, however, are sports from the light fawn and white, but since water can not rise above its own level, the white variety can hardly claim purer blood than the light fawn and white from which it came. It is highly probable, then, that all three varieties of the Indian Runners, with the possible exception of ducks recently brought direct from India, are in a degree mongrels. Since we all live in glass houses, then, would it not be good advice to quit "slinging mud" and "throwing stones" and admit that every fowl that can produce food and give us pleasure has a right to live?

In deciding which of the three varieties of Indian Runner ducks is best, two things must be held in mind : utility value, and fancy qualities. Of these, the former is certainly more important. We can live without fancy stock, but we must have food. In fact, utility value is the supreme test for any fowl. So far as quality of flesh and size are concerned there is no difference in the three varieties. In meat production, therefore, they stand equal. In egg production we must consider color and quantity of eggs. In quantity, each breeder sanguinely believes that the particular variety that he breeds lays more than any other. Who is right, we shall have to wait and see. I have bred all three varieties, and I find them all great layers, but which lays most, I am not able to say. In color the evident demand is for a white shelled egg and not for a green one. Just here is where the hottest fight is on between the breeders of the penciled duck and the breeders of the light fawn and white duck. Breeders of the penciled duck say that she always lays a pure white egg, and that all the fawn and white ducks will lay some green eggs. On the other hand, the breeders of the fawn and white say that the penciled ducks lay as many green eggs as do the fawn and white. Not knowing who to believe, I recently asked one of the best water fowl judges in the country for a frank statement on the subject. He said: "I have yet to see my first breeder of any variety of the Indian Runner who does not occasionally get a tinted egg" Reliable breeders, however, are fast developing a pure white egg strain, and the time is not far distant when all thoroughbred Indian' Runners of whatever variety will lay a white egg exclusively.

Fancy quality is only relative. What is most fancy depends upon who is the fancier. At present only the light fawn and white variety is admitted to the American Standard of Perfection, but, in my opinion, all three varieties of the Indian Runner type of ducks should be admitted to the standard. Several different colors of the same variety of chickens are admitted to the standard, why not the same with ducks? The black, the white, and the buff Orpingtons are all true Orpingtons. Why, then, are not the penciled, the fawn and white, and the white Indian Runners in a sense all true Indian Runners? To admit all three varieties to the standard is the only reasonable solution of this problem, and the American Poultry Association will, I believe, finally come to it.

The English Penciled Indian Runner Duck.

Indian Runner Duck according to the English Standard.

The above cut was made from a photograph and gives a fair idea of the English penciled Indian Runner. In Part II will be found a more complete description of this variety together with the requirements of the English Standard.

Light Fawn and White

American Standard Indian Runner Duck.

Ideal American Standard Indian Runner.

"The standard-bred Indian Runner has a long, flat, finely formed head of a light fawn and white color. The head should be adorned with cap and cheek markings of light fawn or gray, the cap being divided from the cheek markings by a narrow white line, and the base of the bill from the head markings by a line of white about one-eighth of an inch wide. The bill is of unusual length, fairly broad and strong at the base, extending down from the skull in an almost straight line. In the ducklings the bill is of a yellow color, spotted with green. When fully matured, the bill of the duck should be dark green in color ; the drake, yellow with a black bean. The eyes are dark brown in color and set high in the head. The neck is unusually long and slender and white in color from head to the beginning of the breast markings. The back is long and narrow and of a light fawn color. The breast is round and of a light fawn color, evenly divided about halfway between the point of the breastbone and the legs. The body is long, narrow, and carried erect, with no indication of keel, somewhat resembling that of the Penguin in shape, and is of a light fawn color. The wings are of medium length and carried close to the body, the shoulders and top part of the wings being of the same color as the breast. The tail is composed of hard, stiff feathers, the sex feathers of the drake being well curled. The color of the tail is light fawn. The legs should be of medium length and set well apart; the toes straight and connected by web. Color of shanks and toes should be a deep orange yellow." The standard weight of the drake is four and one-half pounds ? of the duck four pounds.

The tail of the drake, according to the new standard, should be a bronze-green. All good breeders and poultry judges, however, are of the opinion that this is a mistake, and that the tail should be fawn.

White Indian Runner Duck

The white Indian Runner is making rapid progress, and it is believed by some that this variety will soon be the leading Indian Runner. They are said to lay a pure white egg and to possess extraordinary hardiness. As to origin, it is believed that the white Indian Runner is the result of a cross of the fawn and white variety with the white Pekin duck. Some affirm, however, that they are sports from the fawn and white Runner, and therefore that they are pure Indian Runners.

IS

The white Indian Runner does not differ materially from the other varieties, except in color. When their white is sufficiently fixed so that they will breed true to color, the white Runner will be an advantage, for since they are white all over and have no markings, it will be easy to breed true to the standard. I speak of their standard prospectively, for they will undoubtedly be admitted to the standard in course of time. Yet fanciers, like other human beings, glory in achieving that which is difficult. It may be, after all, therefore, that the more-difficult-to-produce light fawn and white duck will hold the leading place among the Indian Runners. Some admire the white duck, and others the penciled, but since the present standard calls for the light fawn and white, those who wish to breed for exhibition must breed the light fawn and white duck, until a place in the show room can be made for all. It is believed that the time is not far distant when the standard will admit both the penciled and the white Runners, and even now classes are being made in some of the large shows for the non-standard birds.

In Part II of this book one of the leading breeders of the white Indian Runner will tell you his experience and what he thinks about them.

s

CHAPTER III Claims for the Indian Runner

Being a small bird, the Indian Runner has no superior claim to the production of feathers. She is too valuable for meat and egg production to be raised for anything else.

As a meat producer, the Indian Runner is a quality bird. The standard weight being four and four and one-half pounds, the grown ducks are not very large, but as broilers they mature quickly into the finest of fowl meat. It is claimed that their meat is sweeter than any other duck and much superior to any chicken both in toothsomeness and in nutritive value. They possess much less fat and the meat when roasted and served lacks the undesirable fat of other roast ducks. It is also claimed that they, are easier to dress than other ducks, which quality is no mean thing to the housewife or the cook.

The chief claim for the Indian Runner, however, is egg production. No other fowl, so far as I know, has ever approached the egg record of these marvelous layers. In an egg-laying contest held in New Zealand one Indian Runner duck layed 320 eggs in 365 days : and, though in heavy moult at the close of the contest, she was laying an egg every day. Breeders in the United States claim records from 200 to 250 eggs a year from ducks kept in small flocks. That it is not at all uncommon for an Indian Runner duck to lay an egg every day for one hundred successive days can be substantiated by almost any breeder who has any knowledge of the Indian Runner.

Their eggs, moreover, are the same price as hen eggs in most markets, and more in some. The only thing that could be urged as against the Indian Runner duck egg is that some of the shells are a greenish tint, but this is by no means true of all their eggs. Breeders are working hard to eliminate the green-shelled egg, and no little progress has already been made. Those who contemplate raising the Indian Runner for market eggs should be careful to start with ducks that lay only white-shelled eggs. A man who wishes to produce eggs for market, however, can not do better than start with Indian Runners. Once started with these veritable egg machines, one would not think of raising chickens for egg pi eduction. Best of all, the Indian Runner lays when aggs are highest in price — through the winter months. When the old hen is shivering with the cold and nursing a frozen comb, the Indian Runner is wrapped in her coat of down and laying an egg every day. Another great advantage of the Indian Runner is that you do not have to build expensive houses for her. All she asks is a rough, shed for a shelter and windbreak, and a dry place for her feet — no roosts, no nests, no furniture of any kind. Furthermore, she is never troubled with lice, mites, or roup. In a word, she asKs but little and gives much.

CHAPTER IV Hatching the Indian Runner

Hatching the Indian Runner is in general the same as hatching chickens. The duck egg, however, requires twenty-eight days to hatch, whereas the chicken egg requires only twenty-one. There are two ways of hatching : the natural and the artificial. For those who wish to hatch onlv a few eggs, nothing is better or surer than the old hen, but where hundreds or thousands of eggs arc r o be hatched, as in modern poultry raising, she is too limited in capacity.

Just a few suggestions to those who wish to hatch with a hen. Having selected a faithful, motherly nen, you must make her a - comfortable nest, and keep her free from lice. The latter yon can do by dusting her every three or four days with some good insect powder. Persian insect powder, napthaline and flour make an excellent powder for chickens. Sprinkle the nest of eggs once or twice during the hatch with powdered sulphur or lime; it wil help destroy the lice. I mention lice killer here because it is imperative that the setting hen be kept free from vermin.

Feed and water should be kept before the setting hen at all times so that she may get off the nest and eat and drink whenever she will. Hens have been known to starve to death on the nest. Some hens, however, are inclined to leave the nest too long and allow the eggs to chill. I have known a hen to sit all right for a few days and then all of a sudden and seemingly without cause to leave the nest so long that every egg would chill. The result is a bad hatch if you have any hatch at all. I have had better success by shutting the hens on the nest and letting them off once a day to feed, water and have a dust bath. When they have been off about fifteen or t wenty minutes, I put them back on their eggs.

The membrane that lines a duck egg shell is much tougher than that in the hen egg. It is, therefore, necessary, in order to obtain the best results, to supply moisture. Otherwise the ducks are liable to die in the shell on account of being unable to pierce the tough membrane. The extra moisture rots the shell and the membrane, allowing the duckling to escape. No fixed amount of moisture can be given, for much depends upon the season of the year and the amount of moisture in the atmosphere. I have had good results as follows : Wet the egg with half pint of lukewarm water once a week for the first three weeks, and every two days for the last week. Or sprinkle the eggs with warm water every day for the last eight or ten days. Always sprinkle or wet the eggs at night, for the hen is then less likely to raise up off the eggs and allow them to chill. Care should be exercised not to put too many eggs under a hen.

Ten or eleven duck eggs is about the right number in early spring, and not more than thirteen should be given a hen at any time.

Those who go into the business of duck raising extensively will sooner or later need to turn out ducks faster than the old hen can hatch them; hence the need for artificial incubation. Many people suppose that incubators and artificial incubation is a modern invention, but such is not the case. "Articial incubation, or hatching by machinery, is known to be an old idea, and yet very little information upon original processes is to be found in our libraries. Eggs were hatched by articial means centuries ago. Machines were invented and used successfully for this purpose by the Egyptians long before the Christian era. Very recently some of these hatching ovens have been found by explorers. Some of them depended upon the customary fuel for their supply of heat, while others relied upon stones heated in the sun, and some, even, were found that obtained the necessary heat from lamps. Besides the above sources of incubation heat, mention can be made of decomposing animals and vegetable matter

*9 used long ago with unknown success. Not many winters ago the writer had the pleasure of forking out a live and health} chicken from a heap of compost near the door of his stable. Numerous other instances of accidental incubation have been related, and man's ingenuity has been exercised to devise machines and methods that will insure the transition of the dormant egg into the living chick."

The first consideration in artificial hatching is the incubator. An inferior incubator will waste more time and money than any other machine I know of; be sure to get a good machine and you will never regret the investment. The country is flooded with cheap, worthless incubators, but there are many good ones. Whatever incubator you use, follow to the letter the directions of its manufacturer and you will obtain the best results. Beware of following everybody's advice and use your common sense. When your machine comes, study carefully the directions before trying to put it together. When you think you fully understand all its parts, read the directions over again, and then set up your machine.

Where to set the machine is the next question. Since an even regular temperature is absolutely necessary to perfect incubation, the chief requiremnt is that the incubator be placed where it will

^Farmers' Bulletin, be subjected to the least possible variation in temperature. There should be no draughts and the room should have no stove or other artificial heat than the incubator. The room should not be dark. A clean, dry, light cellar is an ideal place, but any dry, clean room will do, provided that the heat does not vary too much and that the draughts of air over or around the machine are avoided. The incubator must have a permanent place, where it will not need to be moved and where it will be absolutely undisturbed. The floor must be level, and, to insure perfect distribution of the heat, the machine should be set perfectly level with a carpenter's spirit level. Plenty of space should be left around the incubator to allow the attendant to work unhindered and without jostling the machine.

Do not be in a hurry to put the eggs in the machine. When you have the machine set up and well located in its permanent place, fill your lamp ; and, after looking over the machine again to be sure that everything is in place, light the lamp and turn the blaze very low. Be very careful not to heat the machine too rapidly. Be sure that your regulator is in working order, then let the egg chamber heat up slowly. As the machine heats up, turn up the blaze in the lamp a little at a time until the mercury in the thermometer begins to raise. When the heat registers 102 degrees, adjust the damper so that it will go no higher. When you have gotten the machine regulated so that you can keep the temperature at 102 degrees, run it that way for twenty- four hours at least, or until you can perfectly control the heat. The blaze must be clean and white. Have your wick trimmed straight, so that you can turn it up or down a little without causing smoke. This is important.

Having set up the machine, having placed it in its permanent location, and having regulated the heat, it is now time to turn your attention to getting the eggs ready for incubation. Eggs, before putting them into the machine, should be kept in a temperature of about sixty degrees Fahrenheit. Now open the door of your incubator and remove the egg trays, being careful not to disturb the regulator. Fill each tray full of eggs, but do not stand them on ends. When they are filled, carefully replace the trays in the machine, and close the door. When the eggs are put in the machine, the temperature may go down, but give them time to heat up slowly and do not turn up the blaze for at least five hours. A close watch should be kept, however, and the machine should not be left for more than an hour at a time until it is running regularly at 102 degrees. For duck eggs keep the heat at about 102 degrees for the first two weeks, then allow it gradually to raise to 103 or 104 degrees the last two weeks. Follow directions carefully, and fill and clean the lamp every evening. Every time you fill the lamp, be sure to look at the thermometer again in fifteen or twenty minutes.

For the first three days the eggs need no other attention than to keep the temperature even and to turn the trays end for end once a day, but bginning on the fourth day, the eggs must be turned and cooled twice a day. On the morning of the fourth day turn every egg about one-third of the way over. When opening the door of the machine and removing the trays, be careful not to jar the eggs or the incubator. If the room is not cold and there is no draught, let the eggs cool ten to fifteen minutes and then put them back in the machine. While the eggs are cooling, however, the door of the machine should be kept closed. Continue to turn and cool the eggs daily until the twenty-fifth day, or until the ducklings begin to pip the shells. After this they must not be disturbed.

Duck eggs, as a rule, require more moisture than hen eggs. A shallow pan of damp — not wet — sand should be placed under the egg trays. Beginning the sixth day the sand should be kept damp at all times until the twenty-fifth day, when the pipping will begin. Then remove the sand trays and put the cloth trays into the machine. Beginning with the fifteenth day, some sprinkle the eggs with warm water once every day until the end of the hatch. It is best to let the eggs cool a little before sprinkling. As soon as they have been sprinklked, return them at once to the machine. Always keep door of machine shut while eggs are out so that the heat will not run too low.