Duck sex question

[fogbubble]

Ok, I'm thinking ahead to this spring and my experimental Harlequin/Cayuga/mallard crosses. I'm getting spring fever very early this year - I'm so excited!
Our birds (10 right now) all live together in one big fenced yard and duck house. It's going to be a quite a hassle to isolate my birds in various pairings, so I have a few questions: How long is sperm from a particular drake stored and used? In other words, after a pair mates, how many subsequent eggs will be his?
Any tips or suggestions will be helpful.
Shannon
Harlequin Creek

 

[1lpoock]

I've heard that they can be fertile for up to two weeks...but I don't know if it's true or not

 

[Goat_Walker]

I've heard that too. I mean It kinda makes it a little difficult to think about when you have numerous drakes mounting the same hen. Im curious about this too since I want to try out some different breeding projects.


I wonder if this means that one drake is responsible for the fertility of two weeks worth of eggs - but then what happens with the sperm of the second drake??

 

[CityChicker]

I have always heard one month, but I don't recall ever seeing anything scientific about that number, LOL. The general rule of thumb seems to be one month if I recall correctly. I'm sure I read that in one of Holderread's books.

 

[fogbubble]

Seems like I've heard that puppies from the same litter can have different fathers if Mom cavorted around, so I guess the same can apply to clutches of eggs.