How long before a ducks eggs are fertilised?

[Kiwi-Girl]

Hello all, a bit of a strange one for my first question lol. I have just this week added a lovely Peking drake to my small paddling (love that name). He was a present for my two young, laying, female Peking's as they were getting frisky with each other and that wasn't going to get them far. So, one of the girls, a couple of weeks ago had gone off and started a nest outside of the pen and I finally found it today, so much harder than off base chicken nests . Anyway I presume this means she's planning ahead for spring and is starting to take things a little more seriously I've taken all of the eggs except one as they wouldn't have been fertilised and I don't want her to waste her time sitting on them to no avail.

So my question is, if ducks have a number of eggs in their body at any particular time, how long does it take until she will lay fertilised eggs? I hope that makes sense but basically if she has say 7 eggs coming through her body then a drake is added to the family and presuming he gets straight down to business, the 8th egg would be the earliest one to be fertilised wouldn't it? Just using that number as an example, I have no idea how many eggs they carry at one time. Anyways, hoping someone has the low down on this and thanks so much in advance if you do

 

[nuthatched]

Crack open an egg and look for a white bulls eye on the yolk, no bulls eye, not fertile, bulls eye, fertile.
How old are your duck hens? Are they laying full sized eggs?

 

[Kiwi-Girl]

Crack open an egg and look for a white bulls eye on the yolk, no bulls eye, not fertile, bulls eye, fertile.
How old are your duck hens? Are they laying full sized eggs?

Thank you, will do. I'm not sure exactly how old, this is their first season laying but yes they're full size, some days one lays massive double yoker sized eggs, I can't fit them in the egg box if I have spares to sell.

 

[Kiwi-Girl]

So we’re talking bullseye here right? That little white dot?

if so, hopefully my Peking boy is doing the business and not my Muscovy boy, I don’t particularly want mules.

Speaking of Muscovy boys, oh my goodness have you seen a video of the wobbly bits on those boys? Ayayay and they can can get it out and in, in a tenth of a second! Creation is pretty amazing! And what’s even more impressive is that the female has been built in such a way that she can either go with it if she fancies him or if not she has a trick up her sleeve (code name for vagina ) to make life rather difficult for him. If you know, you know people, if not, google is your friend. Although I must admit when a friend put me on to it, you do feel a bit creepy googling Muscovy penis, still it is worth it. Knowledge is power and all that. For example knowing what I know when my first (now deliciously deceased) Muscovy fell in love with my very small silkie chook I knew to take desperate measures to save her. . Anyway enough from me this morning, I hope everyone’s having a delightful day or evening depending on where they are. Thanks to @nuthatched for the tip and apologies to admin, only my third post and I’m using all the words today!