Are drakes fertile once they start breeding?

[Cherie1n2]

I know that question sounds stupid.. But I can't seem to find the answer to it. I have two drakes hatched April 24 that are mallard Rouen cross and one mallard Cayuga cross. They are approximately 15 weeks old and do not completely have their adult feathers and yet they seem to be successfully mating our female ducks. My neighbor wants me to let him use one of the drakes on his laying ducks and put them in my incubator. I have too many drakes so that's no problem.. I just don't want him to waste his eggs if they're not going to be fertile.

 

[needlessjunk]

Hmmm... Mine was mating my girls and getting good at it by 4 months old. However it took a bit longer to get fertile eggs. I would hold off at least another month just to be safe and he also should check the eggs for fertility before trying to just incubate any. That way there are no questions about them being fertile.

 

[JadeComputerGal]

I know that question sounds stupid.. But I can't seem to find the answer to it. I have two drakes hatched April 24 that are mallard Rouen cross and one mallard Cayuga cross. They are approximately 15 weeks old and do not completely have their adult feathers and yet they seem to be successfully mating our female ducks. My neighbor wants me to let him use one of the drakes on his laying ducks and put them in my incubator. I have too many drakes so that's no problem.. I just don't want him to waste his eggs if they're not going to be fertile.

I agree with @needlessjunk on this, and I'd say give it another 6 or even 8 weeks. Spring and early summer ducks don't reach sexual maturity until they're 6-7 months old, and yours still have two weeks to go before they're 4 months old. Of course there's no harm in trying whenever you and the neighbor want if he's not doing anything with his eggs anyway, but since you said "waste," I'm assuming they're either eating or selling the eggs.

PS It's not a stupid question.

 

[Cherie1n2]

Thank you both for answering it. I didn't think they'd be fertile and wouldn't dream of breeding him till next spring myself.. But my neighbor is old and only sees a duck that's breeding. I wanted to find out for sure, but everything I found was on when in X months old and not in behavior.. And lots of stuff on females and laying.