Feather shuttlecock durability?

It's normal to break one every 10 minutes. Good ones can last a game. Very rarely does a shuttle last more than 2 games. In a bad game you can use 3 or more. Buying cheap is more expensive in the end, because they tend to break much faster. yonex aerosensa 30 is widely considered a good standard (and if price is anything to go by, aerosensa 40 should be better than the 30). I like victor gold champion, same price range, very comparable in quality, but I feel they last a bit longer.

If you're using your own, you can treat the shuttles with steam a few days before you play. Turn a water kettle on, open the lid, take the shuttle individually and rotate them over the steam until all sides have had a chance to catch some steam. Don't hold them over for too long(really, all it takes is a few seconds to fully rotate them over the steam). They shouldn't feel wet, just very slightly damp. Let them air dry for a few minutes and they can go back in the tube.

It hydrates the feathers and makes them less brittle. Just don't do it on the same day, because if they're still damp when you start playing they get fluffy and you might as well be playing with plastic.

But yeah, a good solution doesn't exist (yet? maybe never.). Feather shuttles are fragile and expensive, but they feel the best to play with and there is nothing else like it. I know it seems ridiculous (imagine football players switching balls every 10 minutes because the old one broke), but it is what it is.

 

When it no longer flies like it's supposed to. When a feather breaks it almost never flies right again, but even if nothing clearly broke off, after a while the shuttle can get fluffy, or it slows down, or hitting it starts to feel dull, or all of the above.

Some players care more than others, and obviously it's more important in a competitive setting compared to a club night. When players bring their own shuttles they tend to play on longer with weathered shuttles than if shuttles are provided by the club (even if those shuttles are indirectly paid for through membership fees.

 

How long a shuttle lasts depends directly on the quality of the shuttle and the level of the players. I don't know of any club events which would use Yonex AS30/AS40/AS50 as they're too expensive (highest quality) and mostly used for tournaments. Assuming there are no miss-hits a feather shuttle should last 1 game before the players feel the Cork is soft and ask to change it.

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One of the clubs I play at uses as30. If OP is the one providing the shuttles I suggest to find a good balance between price and durability. If the players aren't complaining and you enjoy how they play, then no need to change anything. Every now and then the organizer of one of the clubs I play at gives us a different tube to test out and sometimes they're ok, but more often than not they don't feel solid and we'll butcher a bunch of shuttle in one set before deciding to revert to our usual shuttles.