Fertility This Soon

[Chriswardens52]

My Khaki Campbell hen has been starting a nest lately. I've seen her bobbing her head at one of my mallard drakes and him boobing back. But I havent seen them do "The Deed". So today i decided to crack a few eggs open for fun. This is what i found.

Notice the germinal disk. I looked very carefully and i saw a white ring around it. The ring was very faint. Also note the little red spot in the top left of the egg. I am wondering could this egg have been fertile. My drakes are just getting their nuptial plumage... if i got that right lol. Any ways any thoughts are welcome

 

[bayyjayy]

I have always wondered how you can tell if an egg has been fertilized....if I understand this correctly, the germinal disk is the white "thing" attached to the yolk. So, if there is a white ring around it, that means it could have turned into a baby if it had been incubated? What does the red spot indicate??

Is this right...I have wondered about this, so will be following this post.

 

[DUCKGIRL89]

Yes, the bobbing of the head means they are going to start pretty soon. My male rouen started bobbing his head at my female rouen and then..... Well you get the picture.

 

[duckyfromoz]

If there is a drake in with the ducks... it is very likely that even the first eggs are fertile. In many cases mating has been occurring for a number of weeks before the duck will start to lay. Of course the first eggs may not be laid at a good time of year for the duck to be raising babies so they may not go broody though.

 

[Chriswardens52]

But my mallard drake is only 13 weeks old. Could he still have been mating this soon.