fertile or infertile egg?

[jjtrucker]

Can a duck lay eggs that are fertile and some that are infertile at the same time? I cracked some eggs open to check for fertility after placing a male duck with my female and I was pretty sure I saw fertile ones so later I collected two for incubation. After several days I candled and saw nothing so I cracked them open and am certain they were not fertile. Today my duck laid some more eggs so I cracked 2 and again am pretty sure they are fertile so I put the rest in the incubator. My male duck has been with my female for about a month. Will add pics if anyone can help me determine if I am correct in them being fertile.

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[jjtrucker]

 

[jjtrucker]

 

[PrintedPerfect]

I am not any kind of expert, in fact, I have my own issues right now trying to get to the bottom of whether one is a duck or a drake. But as I understand you should have a bulls eye if the egg is fertile. Your last picture looks like maybe it has the bulls eye. There are some pictures here: https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/16008/how-to-tell-a-fertile-vs-infertile-egg-pictures.

And, when I was looking into it I saw sample pics and read information that talked about the bulls eye that consisted of the white dot, with a clear or transparent ring around it with a thin white ring around it.

 

[jjtrucker]

Thank you. Put some in the incubator and I guess I'll just wait and see. It seems she is laying some that are fertile and some that are not. I thought once they started laying fertile eggs all the eggs would be fertile until you take the drake away but maybe ducks are different.

 

[PrintedPerfect]

I read some really interesting stuff about ducks and breeding. Wish I could tell you exactly where/what, but maybe someone here can fill in some of the blanks. But what I read is that drakes are rather endowed, seems like I read something like 17" - that's not really pertinent in this case but so incredibly odd and unexpected (assuming what I read is correct) that it's kind of a cool fact. And ducks have several nooks and crannies or pockets, if you will, that they can store semen in and thereby control whether a certain drake is allowed to fertilize an egg or not. Apparently if a duck does not deem a drake acceptable or worthy or for whatever reason does not want her eggs fertilized she can send the sperm into one of these pockets and expel it later, but if she is game she can bypass the pockets and allow the egg to be fertilized. Isn't that crazy?

 

[jjtrucker]

That is interesting and certainly would explain why some eggs seem to be fertile and some not. Guess I'll just keep throwing them in the incubator until I get a few that are fertile. I am constantly seeing my roosters mate my duck but I have not seen my drake mate her yet.

 

[PrintedPerfect]

Good luck with it. I know I hope to get a grand-duck some day, I think that will be my house duck.