Here’s a long overdue post about my best little buddies in the garden, my Fawn Indian Runner Ducks!

They have quickly become our best friends, and you’ve NEVER seen something as cute as a baby runner duck! We purchased ours from Strombergs Hatchery in Hackensack, Minnesota, and could not be happier with the whole experience. Also, I’m convinced there is nothing better than receiving a package that PEEPS!

Runner ducks are flightless and do not require water for swimming, though they need to immerse their heads daily. We use a little kiddie pool that we can dump out and refresh as needed, and it works GREAT. Would love to have a little garden pond with a filter and/or drain at some point, but for this season, we’ve had good times with this little pool.

I decided on ducks over chickens for multiple reasons, the first one being that I love the look of the runner ducks. They are sleek, compact little bug eaters that look so cute and are FULL of personality. They are also very low maintenance. While a chicken requires a roost and a specific amount of light each day in order to lay eggs, ducks want a little hut to crawl into and will literally (and I do mean literally) lay their eggs wherever they decide to plop it out. We designed this little A-frame duck hut in the garden, and it’s worked so well. There is a cleaning door and a little duckie door on the back.

Other reasons I decided on ducks were that they can forage in the garden without destroying the plants like chickens do (because they don’t scratch). They do tend to be opportunists, however, and will happily nibble on bok choy or green bean plants if given the chance. They are also not sensitive to nightshade plants like chickens, which means I can give them my scrap tomatoes, etc.

Did you also know that ducks can lay almost as many eggs per year as chickens? Indian Runner Ducks will lay on average 315 eggs per year once they start laying!

They are excellent bug control, do a good job at aerating the lawn, so fun to be around, not noisy, and their poo makes EXCELLENT fertilizer. Here’s some photos of them foraging in the mornings in our backyard.

And here’s them in the garden, coexisting and hiding out in the greenhouse waiting for me to come out with some chow.

I could talk about the ducks all day!

But as it normally happens, my loves in the garden tend to make their way into the house. So, if you’ve made it this far, I wanted to share with you a free printable to add to your house this Summer, just because I love my ducks that much and want to share that love with you!

Send me photos of it framed in your home if you print it out!

What questions do you have about runner ducks??

Quack quack.

xoxo Jen