egg fertilization

[hfchristy]

Each egg takes several days to form and harden, etc, right?
I'm wondering - at what point in that process does fertilization happen?

I've looked at pics of fertile vs. non-fertile yolks and can't really tell which ours are, so I'm thinking I'll just set some and see if anything happens.
I suspect they might not be, because we've got an unhappy love triangle situation in the back yard. Boy can't stop thinking about the Pekin long enough to get anywhere with the smaller black duck, but he's too small to effectively reach around the Pekin to take care of things. Yesterday, though, I put the same-sized pair in a pen together and witnessed what appeared to be a successful mating. At least the drake seemed to think it had been. Is today's egg likely to be fertile? Or would it have already been past the fertilization step by yesterday afternoon?
I hate cracking eggs open just to check if there's not likely to be any difference between today's and yesterdays!

Christy

 

[sumi]

With chicken eggs it takes approximately 10 days for the yolk to develop and mature and 25 hours for the egg to form. Fertilisation happens as the yolk is released at the start of the process. A duck will lay a fertile egg the day after a successful mating and will continue laying fertile eggs for a few days afterwards.