4 month old khaki drake mating, will the eggs be fertile?

[uusparrowuu]

I have a 4 month old khaki campbell drake that has been mating, or at least that’s what it looks like, with 3 1.5 year old khaki campbell hens. The hens lay well. My question is more about the fertility of the drake- will these eggs be fertile? Can they be incubated? Or is he too young- like he’s shooting blanks?

Edit: I have a couple silkies that are broody right now. I read that they will happily sit on duck eggs. If the eggs are fertile, how long after mating will they start laying the fertile eggs, to give to the silkies?

 

[Canadian Wind]

Only way to know for certain is to either incubate some, or look for the bullseye on the yolk when cracking it open, I would think.

 

[uusparrowuu]

Only way to know for certain is to either incubate some, or look for the bullseye on the yolk when cracking it open, I would think.

How long after mating will they start laying the fertile eggs? He began mating them about 10 days ago.

 

[Canadian Wind]

From what I've read, the eggs _should_ be fertile at this point if they were to be. Can you tell which duck lays which eggs?

 

[ruthhope]

He will be fertile, but as a juvenile may not be effectively depositing inside the female. They often take some time to get adept at penetration. It's not that simple with a corkscrew penis!!

 

[uusparrowuu]

The campbell with the most white patches lays the smallest egg, and we’ve seen him mate her a few times (they mated now while I typed this!) The duck with no white patches at all lays bigger eggs- witnessed mating once, but she is currently molting heavily and hasn’t laid in a while. The duck with only a single white patch usually lays the most pointed eggs- no matings witnessed.

I work from home and strategically placed the duck pools within view of the office window. Watching them in the water brightens my day.

 

[uusparrowuu]

He will be fertile, but as a juvenile may not be effectively depositing inside the female. They often take some time to get adept at penetration. It's not that simple with a corkscrew penis!!

Ok thanks. I’ll keep eating the eggs until I see a change in the germinal spot.

 

[cheezenkwackers]

As others have said, I would not expect the eggs to be fertile. It takes them a while. My new drake is 6 months old and mates my hens several times a day. My eggs are still infertile.