I purchased my original two pairs of Snowy Mallards in 2003. I hatched babies from them the following year, 2004, and then hatched babies from those and the originals since then. In 2007 I lost the last of the original birds, a hen. I lost their first son last Fall, and have a son of the son, and two hens that are his sisters/cousin. It sounds complicated, but I know exactly where they come from and fertility is still remarkably high. We didn't hatch any new ones this year, because we had a grey drake (split to snowy) in the breeding pen as well, and I didn't want to hatch any babies until he was out of there, but we've always had 90-100% hatch rates under broodies. And by the time I sold the grey drake, they were practically done for the season and molting. They should begin again after the come out of eclipse here soon. Hopefully this Fall I can split MY drake from his hens and put him with the new hens to do a test outcross to see what/if I like the progeny of that batch. RECORDS ARE A MUST!!! We have a small flock, but we band all of our birds and then I also use cable ties on the other leg so I know what year the birds were hatched in.