BillD. I don't believe the statement of ""Most males die after the mating season, and most females die after producing their first brood."". Don't fully believe everything you read. In reality, it probably depends. I know some of my papershell crayfish are 3 yrs old. I more likely believe a longer life span than two years as info in this next link especially if predators are few to none and habitat including food source is good:
http://crayfishblue.weebly.com/life-cycle.htmlsays: A crayfish reaches adult size in 3-4 months & its life span is 3-8 years long.
Lifespan: about 2-3 years, but varies with species. Some live longer.
http://www.anapsid.org/crayfish.htmlOrconectes sanborni Growth and life span - 37 months. from OSU study:
https://kb.osu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/1811/22357/V076N2_073.pdf;jsessionid=8381253119CC757A5005AAD57BBD4008?sequence=1
Papershell crayfish are similar to rusty crayfish which have a typical life span of 3-4 yrs.
http://www.in.gov/dnr/files/RUSTY_CRAYFISH.pdf I would stock them whenever you can get them. If predators will be present then stock more the longer they have to be in the pond before they "spawn". Every day they live they have a chance of being eaten by a bass. How many for a 0.4 acre pond? Good question. For me it would depend on how many predators were present and how much habitat was present. For starters, if you want to be sure you have some survive to lay eggs, I would assume that each predator would eat 1 crayfish per day forever how many days before the crayfish laid eggs. I caught a 9" YP one time with 2 two adult crayfish in its stomach.
