Efficiency of Producing Hatching Eggs via Artificial Insemination and Natural Mating of Broiler Breeder Pullets

Abstract Broiler breeder pullets housed in stairstep cages were artificially inseminated with a) .05 ml semen every seven days, b) .05 ml semen every six days, or c) with .05 ml, .07 ml, or .09 ml semen every seven days. The resulting fertility and hatchability data were compared with that obtained from pullets that were naturally mated on slat-litter floors and in colony cages. In the naturally mated birds, the male to female ratio was 1:10. Data were also obtained on production efficiency factors. Fertility and hatchability rates following artificial insemination every seven days with .05 ml semen were significantly lower than those obtained with natural mating. Increasing the insemination frequency to once every six days or increasing the volume of semen inseminated to .07 ml or .09 ml did not significantly improve fertility over that obtained by artificial insemination once every seven days with .05 ml semen. During the last phase of the experiment, fertility rates from the naturally mated pullets were not superior to those obtained by artificial insemination. This was due to reduced fertility rates in the naturally mated pullets rather than to increased fertility rates in the artificially inseminated pullets. Pullets in the stairstep cages performed significantly better than those in the colony cages with respect to egg production and the percentage of dirty eggs. Their performance was equal to that of pullets held on slat-litter floors for egg production, the percentage of large eggs, and the percentage of dirty eggs. However, they produced significantly more cracked eggs (1.3%) than those pullets on the slat-litter floors (1.0%).