Meet Our Indian Runner Ducks

Upright, endlessly busy and impossibly charming — our Runner ducks are the hardest-working little foragers on the farm, and a key part of how we keep the land of Abruzzo healthy without chemicals.

🦆 The Indian Runner — The Duck That Runs

The Indian Runner is unlike any other duck. Where most ducks waddle low to the ground, the Runner stands almost completely upright — a long, slim, bottle-shaped bird that carries itself like a skittle and moves with a quick, comical run rather than a waddle. It is one of the oldest and most distinctive domestic duck breeds in the world, and once you have watched a flock of them stream across a field, heads held high, you never forget it.

Despite the name, the Indian Runner does not come from India. The breed originates in the East Indies — the Indonesian islands of Java, Bali and Lombok — where for centuries it was herded through the rice paddies in great flocks, foraging on pests and snails by day and returning to be penned at night. Brought to Europe in the 19th century, the Runner was quickly prized for two things above all: an extraordinary appetite for garden pests, and an extraordinary number of eggs.

🌱 Our Living Pest Control

At L'Altalena our ducks are not only lovely to watch — they are working animals with a real job to do. A flock of Runner ducks is one of the most effective, gentle and chemical-free forms of pest control a farm can have. They spend their days patrolling the orchard, the kitchen garden and the field edges, hoovering up slugs, snails, insects and larvae that would otherwise damage our crops.

Crucially, unlike chickens, Runner ducks do not scratch and tear at the soil. They forage with their bills, not their feet, so they can work through established beds and around growing plants while doing far less damage. For a farm built on regeneration rather than chemicals, that makes them invaluable partners.

"A flock of Runner ducks is a slug patrol that never clocks off — and pays its wages in eggs."

How the Ducks Work With the Land

🥚 Eggs, Water & Everyday Life

The Indian Runner is one of the finest laying ducks in the world — a healthy hen can lay up to 300 eggs a year, often out-laying many breeds of chicken. Duck eggs are richer and larger than hen's eggs, with a generous golden yolk that bakers in particular treasure.

Their needs are refreshingly simple. Runner ducks do not need a large pond — they need only clean water deep enough to dip and clean their heads and bills, ground to forage, and a safe, dry place to sleep. They are active, alert and deeply social birds: a Runner is never happier than when running with its flock, every head up, every bird moving as one.