By Dorothy DeLisle
The three most common duck breeds used in herding, in order of prevalence, are Indian Runners, Kaki Campbells and Call ducks.
Runners are ultra-light bodied which stand stretched upright. They really do run. They tend to be very light. Almost psychotic in temperament, they scare so easily. They are the Barbados of the duck world. They are very bad about clinging to fences and are best worked out in the open. However, they are very hardy. Runners come in a variety of colors, fawn, fawn& white, blue, black, chocolate, etc. With fawn & white being the most common. Males have darker heads than females, but are otherwise the same color.
Campbells come in 3 colors: white, dark, and kaki. With the last, being the most common. Kaki ducklings are a solid kaki tan. Adults are kaki tan with black highlights on wings and tail area. Adult males have darker heads than females. I find them pretty in a subdued sort of way. Darks are a muddy Mallard color. Campbells are not a calm breed. This is not surprising considering Indian Runner contributed heavily to the breed.
Golden 300 Hybrids and White Golden Layers were developed by Metzer Farms by crossing the Campbell with other duck breeds to keep their famous egg-laying abilities while introducing calmness into the temperament. In both adult and duckling Golden 300 Hybrids, males are shades of black and the females are shades of brown. They do not retain this characteristic in future generations. White Golden Layers have yellow ducklings and pure white adults. The one person I know who had Goldens found them good to herd with. I will probably be trying these next time I raise up a cohort. {Addendum, I have now worked what I am sure must be White Golden Layers. I love them! Nice stream line bodies, but wonderful calm temperaments.!!!)
Welch Harlequins – another Campbell derived breed. Very pretty patterns. Calmer than the Campbell.
Call ducks are a bantam (small) breed. And are very noisy. They come in a variety of colors. They are capable of true flight, but genera;;y prefer not to fly. Rapidly regrow clipped feathers.
In general, one wants to use lighter bodied breeds of ducks for herding. The heavier the body, the easier the duck tires. The heaviest breeds can barely walk. Thus, egg-laying breeds (Campbells, Runners, Golden 300 Hybrids, White Golden Layers) and bantam breeds (Mallards and Calls) are best re body type, then the general-purpose breeds (Swedes, Cayaugas), and lastly the meat breeds (Pekings, Rouens).
Herders tend to choose the less calm breeds because of their lighter temperaments. That is, because a dog can move them by using less force. However, I believe many dogs are turned off by the neurotic temperaments. I think these dogs would benefit by being worked on calmer breeds (i.e. the Swedes, Cayaugas, Golden 300 Hybrids, White Golden Layers). It can change the attitude of a “Real Dogs Don’t Do Ducks” Dog. Also, with neurotic ducks all the dog does is cut off escapes. He’s not really moving the ducks. Dogs will often not have confidence in their ability to control the stock. This creates stress and all the bad things that go with that. With light ducks, things happen so fast that the handler tends to get nervous and this then gets the dog nervous. This also leads to stress. I’ve seen many a handler widely shouting commands because things are just happening too fast for the handler to deal with calmly. It is hard to slow down a dog and teach it to work ducks properly when you start them on the most difficult level of the stock. Isn’t it better to work on stock that they can actually do controlled work on? Therefore, I highly recommend not starting dogs and either Runners or Campbells.
I’m all for advancing to Runners or Campbells, after there’s been good solid work done on calm ducks. These breeds also tend to be more neurotic when young. (I really, really hate them as ducklings.) But get better with age. Provided of course that they have not been worked improperly.
Personally, I’ve found Swedes to be my favorite for herding. All Swedes have white chests (yellow as ducklings). The breed standard only allows blue (grey), but as it is a heterozygous color, Blue Swedes will produce the two homozygous colors (black, silver) as well as blue.. They are very calm and break pretty easily. Ancona is another all-purpose breed and have worked pretty well for me However, Anconas are a pretty rare breed and not many hatcheries carry them.
I like Cayugas too, but they take a lot longer to break and can be very frustrating to work during the breaking process. Before they are broken, there is a very fine line in Cayugas between not moving at all and breaking apart in all directions. (Much like Angora goats.) It takes a very well trained dog to break in Cayugas. But it is good practice in patience for the dog and the handler. And once they are dog broke, they work real nicely. Cayuga ducklings are solid black (sometimes with a little yellow on chest) with very characteristic jet-black bills and feet. Cayuga adult have yellow to tan to greenish colored bills and feet, but have solid black bodies with green and blue iridescent overlay. Old females tend to become speckled with white. Females often lay colored eggs.
Beware; there are a lot of hatcheries that misrepresent mix-bred ducks as pure-breds. I’ve seen ducks reported to be Indian Runners that did not have the characteristic very upright stance, ultra-thin body or strong flocking instinct of Runners. One web page advises wariness of colored Runners being all cross-breds and that only fawns and whites are pure-bred. Yet, I’ve seen colored runners that were very characteristic for the breed and fawn and whites that didn’t live up to their claims of being true Runners. I’ve seen claimed Cayuga hatchlings that did not have the jet-black legs and bills characteristic of that breed at that age. Also, feed store employees often aren’t very good at identifying duck breeds. I’ve seen good examples of one breed in feed stores advertised as being of another breed. Learn what both adults and ducklings should look like for any breed you are thinking of getting. Click here for a quick guide to duck id.
Drakes will go into an “Eclipse” molt and loose their sexually dimorphic coloration. In other words, despite the differing descriptions of the sexes for many of the breeds mentioned above, when in Eclipse, males resemble females. Males are generally in eclipse for about two months.
Herding ducks should be exercised on a daily basis if you are to get the most out of them. If not kept “legged-up,” they won’t have much stamina. And will not be very suitable for working, regardless of the breed. Although it does become even more important as the heaviness of the duck’s build increases. Don’t overfeed your ducks. Fat ducks tire easily. And tired ducks just lay down and quit.
My other duck articles:
Tips for Developing a Duck Dog
Go to GSD Vom Insel ’s home
Go to GSD Vom Insel ’s photo index
Go to GSD Vom Insel ’s article index