The Indian racing duck against slugs and snails: good or bad idea?
What impact do Indian racing ducks have on a slug population?
How to welcome them to the garden?
What are the personal and financial costs, and what are the side effects of Indian racing ducks for the garden system?
I’ll try to answer these questions in this article!
Before you start, if you’re interested, here’s the
article on all slug predators
.
Here’s how the “attracting predators” sub-section of the “slug control” section of my website is organized.
If you've discovered my blog, you're probably bothered by slugs and snails.
You'd probably be very interested in the 7 Steps to get rid of slug by attracting the Alpha predator I have designed with the help of Science, and The slug-proof garden Design I have made (with the help of dozens of scientific studies too).
It changed everything for me. I can finally grow lettuces, cabbages, strawberries and cucurbits without pulling the hair out of my head.
Don't hesitate, you'll probably save a lot of time!
I. Introducing the Indian runner duck, and its benefits for slug control in the permaculture vegetable garden
This breed is descended from mallard ducks, hence the strong resemblance to the latter. It is thought to have originated in Asia, and is distinguished from other species by its high-legged posture, which gives us the impression that it is constantly running.
This species of duck is known to be particularly fond of slugs and snails. But these ducks will also devour any other small insects they find nearby, as well as plants (see the “what they eat” section). To help them hunt gastropods, it’s best to release them into the garden at times when they are most likely to appear: early in the morning, in the evening, and in damp or rainy weather. Be sure to return the ducks to their fenced shelter before dark (I’ll come back to this in the “shelter and fencing” section), as they could be bitten by a fox, weasel or marten.
Indian runner ducks are a very good alternative to many undesirable slug p ellets and beer traps: see why in Part VII of this report. this article), and are increasingly being adopted in permaculture gardens.
II. How do you house Indian racing ducks in your garden?
a. Male or female Indian racing ducks? How to choose your ducks
Indian racing ducks are social animals, and for this reason it’s important toaccommodate at least 2 individuals. Several males can support each other, and if you don’t want pairs (or to take in a female later on), or no eggs, taking in two males is quite possible. For more individuals, the best ratio is 1 male to 2 females.
b. Is the Indian racing duck making a lot of noise?
Does the Indian racing duck make noise? Does it make too much noise?
Many people, before investing in a pair of Indian racing ducks, ask themselves the question of noise: will the noisy quacking (and yes, the duck quacks 😉 ) of my ducks spoil my relaxing afternoons in my garden? Will this finally give my insufferable neighbors a reason to sue me? (No kidding, a duck breeder has already been taken to court over the noise made by her ducks, although the story doesn’t say whether they were Indian racing ducks).
As for legal action, rest assured that this is an exceptional case, and the poor breeder must have had quite a lot of ducks.
For your afternoon naps in the garden, it all depends on whether you’re the type to put your bedroom clock in the next room, when you’re invited to sleep over at a friend’s house?
Because well, it’s not noisy in the extreme, but you can still hear the guys, see for yourself:
And while we’re at it, a guilty pleasure: a race of Indian racing ducks (poor beasts):
c. What space for the Indian racing duck?
One pair of Indian runner ducks is usually enough to rid 1000 square meters of garden of slugs.
When it comes to their living space, think big: between 500 and 1000 square meters minimum, for a couple. It’s both the space they need for their well-being, and the space your garden needs to survive.
Yes, be careful not to think too small, as they can quickly turn a lawn into a mud puddle. In fact, ducks derived from mallards (as is the Indian runner duck), soil more than other species. Personally, I’ve already had ducks (other than mallards), and the state of the garden was already greatly affected…
For more than one couple, more space is not necessary for their well-being, but it will be to keep their garden in good condition.
As for the space required for their night shelter (see next paragraph), you need to allow 2 square meters per duck.
d. What shelter for the Indian racing duck?
This shelter is too small, even for a couple, so we’ll have to create a protected park around it, and leave the door open to allow access between the shelter and this mini-park.
It’s sometimes said that the racing duck doesn’t need shelter, but that’s not true... well, not really. In fact, he doesn’t need a shelter for his “well-being”, but it’ s essential that you offer him one where he can go inside every night, otherwise there’s a good chance he’ll be eaten alive by predators (foxes, weasels or martens).
The Indian racing duck also needs shelter if it is to incubate its eggs.
Their little home should be at ground level, and not too small either, if they’re going to spend every night there (2 square meters per duck, as already seen), especially if you’re planning to expand the family.
e. An enclosure for the Indian racing duck
Even if you have a large plot of land surrounded by forests or fields, and even if you tuck them into their shelter every evening, if the land isn’t fenced in, racing ducks are going to run away at some point, especially during the nesting season.
To achieve this, it’s essential to fence off the area in which they can roam. If you want to take advantage of their slug-hunting benefits, this space should include the vegetable garden, or be in close proximity to it.
f. A pond for the Indian racing duck: why and how?
A 2-square-meter pond is the minimum necessary for their well-being (source: a breeder of Indian racers for private use) and reproduction (they usually breed on water). Here’s a video showing you the various stages involved in building a small pond for Indian racing ducks (this one is just under 2 square meters), right up to its impoundment.
g. What does an Indian racing duck eat?
The Indian racer’s primary diet should be wheat or pellets. Slugs, snails, insects and garden weeds only come second.
To keep them in top shape, the amount of wheat or pellets to feed them should be around 1.7 kg per duck per week, or just over 3 kg per week for a couple. This quantity of food must be modulated according to the potential presence of large numbers of slugs, which they feed on.
The runner duck doesn’t eat most of the vegetables in the garden, except for a few that it loves: lettuces and cabbages, beet and chard leaves, seedlings, and many other garden herbs and flowering plants.
Beware: even vegetable plants that he doesn’t eat, he can still trample them when he goes in search of insects and slugs. When these plants have grown well, it’s not very serious… but when they have just been transplanted or sown, it’s immediately much more annoying…
h. Egg-laying and brooding of the Indian racing duck
A duck starts laying eggs as early as 5 months of age, and continues to do so until it’s 5 years old. An Indian racing duck lays around 100 eggs (but up to 200) a year. Egg-laying usually takes place between late winter and midsummer. Without a male, a duck still lays eggs (like a laying hen), which can be eaten. But eating them involves a greater risk of salmonellosis than chicken eggs, and for this reason they are only used in baked goods. They are quite large (around 65 g), and fatter than chicken eggs. You can safely keep them for a good month.
But of course, you need a male to produce fertilized eggs, which the duck will incubate, giving rise to a flock of bawling ducklings. Beware: during this brooding period, which lasts around 28 days, ducks can be quite aggressive if you try to approach the nest.
Robin
A passionate experimental vegetable grower, I had huge slug problems during my first 2 years of vegetable gardening.
Nothing (eggshells, ashes, etc.) seemed to work…
And yet, if the Internet was to be believed, everything was supposed to work…
In short, faced with an obvious problem of misinformation, I decided to take action: I tested all the famous “slug barriers”, so as to have a clear mind, and know what to do.
I filmed my (13) tests(here, in French)
The results were crystal clear: nothing was able to effectively block the path of slugs and snails, except Water, usable with trenches at least 5 cm deep and 10 cm wide, or Copper, if used vertically, if its height is at least 7 cm
But a water-based barrier is difficult to implement, and copper is expensive…
It was by turning to scientific studies that I found the solution: adopting a slug predator in the garden, present everywhere in the world, which has a huge regulatory effect on them.
The studies show it. And I called this predator the Alpha predator of slugs.
Using dozens of scientific studies again, I constructed an action plan of the most effective arrangements to attract this Alpha predator to the garden sustainably, and to see it multiply by itself, year after year, season after season.
And to get rid, definitively (and intelligently), of slugs.
I have gathered these 7 steps in a digital book that I propose on this site, and at the end of the book, there is also a video training module on designing a slug-proof garden.
You can find this digital book (which contains all of this) by clicking here.
And what if you don’t get rid of your slugs by following the advice in this book? It’s simple, I will refund you in full (but it will work, if you follow the instructions properly).
So, don’t hesitate to discover the simple 7 Steps that can change your springs.
III. Prizes and investments for the Indian racing duck
a. Prix du canard coureur indien
- Price of a pair of Indian racing ducks: around €80
- Cost of feed: each duck requires around 1.5 kg of seeds or pellets per week: 52 weeks * 3 kg per week = 156 kg of seeds or pellets per year. The price of these pellets is roughly €17 for 20 kilos. It takes about 8 packs of 20 kilos to cover the year, which comes to €136 for a couple, per year.
- Building a pond can be done with shovels and biceps, so it’s not really a problem. However, you’ll need to think about a tarpaulin for waterproofing.
- If you don’t build theshelter yourself, an enclosed henhouse costs around €100 for the first prices.
- If you haven’t already done so, you’ll also need wire fencing to enclose your garden: around €40 for 25 meters. Based on a 900 square metre garden (30 metres by 30 metres), that’s 120 metres of fencing, which comes to around €200 all the same…
To sum up, and if there are no unforeseen expenses (illnesses, etc.), the installation and accommodation of a couple of Indian runners, over one year, still requires a financial investment of around 500 euros…
b. Personal investment to raise the Indian racing duck
As explained above, Indian racing ducks need to be able to frolic in a large space and splash about in a small pool, but above all they need to be protected from predators before nightfall. This, in addition to their daily feeding, takes time (sometimes you have to chase them for a while to get them to return to their shelter).
And that means someone to look after it every day, even when you’re away on vacation!
The personal investment is therefore not negligible either.
IV. The Indian runner duck, a brake on long-term natural slug population regulation?
a. Insertion of an additional imbalance for the permaculture garden system.
Within an ecosystem, your vegetable garden (arbitrarily planted, and composed for the most part of non-native plants) already constitutes a systemic imbalance.
Slugs, on the other hand, are usually indigenous. Their population, which is sometimes difficult to control at first, can be regulated by environmental management, and in any case naturally builds up over the years. Nor should we forget that they play an essential role in the garden, and in any ecosystem in general.
Indian runner ducks, on the other hand, are established in the area, and in no way originate from the ecosystem in which our garden is located. Their actions (detailed in the following sub-sections) within the system imply a new imbalance for the latter.
b. The Indian runner duck reduces overall biodiversity and the number of beneficial insects.
The presence of Indian racing ducks prevents the proliferation of slugs in the garden. But beware! The overall biodiversity of your garden may also suffer. Indeed, as I explained above, ducks are not only fans of slugs, but also of all the other insects that cross their path.
c. The Indian runner duck reduces the number of insects that predate slugs
Carabid beetles, scented staphylins, glowworms and millipedes are very good natural predators of slugs (see Part V of this article).
this article
), some of which are even specialized predators. But the latter will be mauled by any Indian rider they see. What could have been natural regulation is now being replaced by regulation (or rather extermination) that I find more or less artificial, even if that’s a strong word.
d. The Indian runner duck leads to the disappearance of food for generalist slug predators
If there are no more slugs in the garden, there’s no chance that their natural predators (not directly affected by the racing ducks) will settlein… Especially if there are very few other insects, which these predators can also often feed on. And, having had ducks, you should know that they’re never (no, never!) satiated, and won’t stop for a second poking around in the grass in search of the slightest prey.
But where will the hedgehogs, toads, orvets and birds find their lunch? Probably more at your neighbor’s than at yours…
Mind you, I’m not saying you won’t come across these little animals again, just that theremay be a food shortage if they stay with you.
But above all, the day you decide to give away your Indian runner ducks, the slugs will have a field day, and you’ll have to wait 1 to 3 years for their natural predators to re-establish themselves nearby.
Well, this is just my opinion, but I think that the practice ofhousing Indian racing ducks is not entirely compatible with the permaculture philosophy in certain respects.
V. In summary, advantages and disadvantages of keeping Indian racing ducks
a. Benefits
- They provide rapid control of large slug and snail populations
- You can use their eggs to make pastries.
- Even if the slugs are killed by an external element (the duck) introduced into the system, they do not leave the system-garden, and are returned there in the form of a nitrogen-rich fertilizer for the plants (the droppings).
- If you’re an animal lover, it can be great fun to have a bunch of ducks frolicking around your garden, and your kids are sure to love it.
- Unlike chickens, they don ‘t eat most of your vegetables and vegetable plants.
b. Disadvantages
- Indian racing ducks require a great deal of personal commitment, as they have to be brought out of their shelters every day, before being brought back in again in the evening. They also need to be fed regularly. It’s hard to go on vacation in these conditions.
- Acquiring and housing them also requires a fairly substantial financial investment: depending on the size of your vegetable garden, around €500 for a couple for the first year, and around €130 per year in subsequent years, once the layout has been completed.
- Indian runners, while not eating the majority of vegetables, are fond of lettuces, cabbages, beet and chard leaves, seedlings, and many other garden herbs and flowering plants. They also tend to trample plantsThis can be a problem when they are in their early stages of development.
- If given too little space, they can quickly turn a lawn into a muddy puddle, just as mallards can.
- They are yet another disruption to the original ecosystem in which our garden is embedded.
- Their appetite is insatiable, and they eat not only slugs, but all kinds of insects, including garden helpers. In this way, they make a major contribution to reducing the number of insects that predate slugs, but also prevent the settlement of many other auxiliary animals, which can no longer find food.
VI. Is it advisable to keep Indian racing ducks only for a short period?
Renting out Indian runners is also something that’s being done.
In practice, it sounds like the perfect solution! Give the slugs a big kick when their population explodes, then return the ducks to their owner, and life is good!
That’s true, but… Slugs proliferate throughout the spring, during the stormy periods of summer, and when the weather becomes wet again in autumn: that’s a very segmented period for renting…
But, let’s say you just want to rent the ducks to cope with the often difficult spring months. So you’ll still need to create a space for them, at considerable cost (see the “financial investment” section above), if you don’t want the foxes and weasels to get at them.
Also, as already pointed out, an overpopulation of slugs or snails is only a symptom of an imbalance in your system, and their seasonal eradication will do nothing to solve the problem. Every year you’ll probably have to start all over again, and when the ducks are gone, watch out for the invasion!
And then, ducks are animals, not objects… You also have to consider psychological shocks But above all, changing the other animals with whom they share the garden: when they’re in your home, each individual in the couple (if it’s a couple) is used to his or her own congeners. Imagine the shock if, after three months, they’re reclaimed and reintegrated with all the landlord’s people, then, 9 months later, a new couple is arbitrarily chosen and installed for another 3 months in a garden, and the loop continues…
VII. Other ways to control slugs and snails in a permaculture garden
As you can see, although I try to remain objective on the issue,I don’t see housing Indian racing ducks as a long-term solution for regulating slug populations in the garden.
So what do you do if you’re regularly invaded by these ladies?
Among the so-called “natural slug repellents”, can try using slug-proof barriers, slug-proof mulchesanti-slug mulchesplant plants with repellent propertiesor attract natural predators of these gastropods.You’ll find all this in my various articles dedicated to slug management in the garden (see the “slug control” section of the menu).
Conclusion
Indian runner ducks are currently very fashionable for slug control in permaculture gardens.
They are highly effective in regulating the population of these gastropods.
Yes, but… these ducks hide a symptom more than they solve the underlying syndrome.
On the contrary, they can slow down or even halt the natural rebalancing of these slug populations.
More generally, and even if it depends on many parameters, the threat to biodiversity in the garden can also raise questions.
Some references:
https://www.fermedebeaumont.com/coureur-indien-blanc-p-735.html
https://la-miniferme.skyrock.com/3040181201-Le-canard-coureur-indien.html
Even better! Follow scrupulously these 7 steps 👇
This is the action plan I devised following the findings of dozens of scientific studies on the subject.
I owe the success of my cabbages, salads, strawberries and cucurbits to it.
Click here to find out more:
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