Essay 14:
Artificial Insemination of Poultry
by R.D. Martin
One of the sub-headings in ‘The Specialist Chick Sexer ’ states Never lead a student where you have never been yourself. In this essay I am breaking this golden rule of teaching: while I have blood tested hens for pullorum, vaccinated chickens, debeaked, dubbed cockerels, surgically caponized cockerels, selected birds for breeding, and of course been a commercial chick sexer, I have never done any artificial insemination of poultry; nor have I ever seen anyone else performing the operation.
In this essay I am writing purely from my reading of other writers on the subject. Before attempting to carry out any artificial insemination on your own birds you would be advice to find out me about what is required. Here I can only give the reader some idea of what is required, and generally how it is carried out. If any viewer/reader has any reading references, or other helpful information on the subject they would like to share it on this website for others to read, I would be delighted to hear from you. My own sources of information are listed at the end of this essay.
Artificial insemination was first practiced in America during the 1920’s and became widely used in Australia with the introduction of laying cages in the late 1950s.
Some of the advantages that have been claimed for artificial insemination in the past have been:
- Increased mating ratio: In a flock it is usually one cockerel mated to six to ten hens. With artificial insemination it is claimed this ratio could be increased four fold. In both cases it depends on the strain and breed of the birds. In my commercial farming days with white leghorn cockerels I used from five to seven cockerels with a pen of a hundred hens. When heavy meat birds came along it was about one cockerel to about eight or ten hens in a large flock.
- Use of older males from outstanding performers: Older male birds that have been flock improvers can be used for several generations. Whereas under natural mating their useful life is limited.
- Able to use an injured bird: Valuable male birds that have been injured in the leg can still be used for artificial insemination.
- Elimination of preferential mating: When there is poor fertility cause by preferential mating it can be eliminated.
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Laying cages can be used: Laying cages are no longer a problem when fertile eggs are needed. Selected hens can be inseminated and remain in the cage. The exact pedigree of the chickens hatched from these fertile eggs is known. Several commercial farms used colony cages with several hens and one rooster, fertility always seemed to be a problem; artificial insemination did solve this problem for some, until this type of housing went out of favour generally. Although there is still one large farm only an hours drive from my office that still uses this system for its breeding stock. See the photo of a colony cage from my farm, which I used for layers but not for breeding purposes.
Colony cages on my commercial poultry farm. Several poultry farmers used these style of cages for breedings pens
- Successful cross breeding: Usually cross breeding is very successful under natural conditions, but some times there is a kind of colour discrimination: some hens will not mate with a male of a different colour unless they have been reared together. During my commercial poultry farming when the white leghorn Australorp cross were the layers of the day, I always reared the white leghorn cockerels with the Australorp pullets right from day old onwards. This practice produced very good fertility in this cross. But for small breeders or poultry fanciers rearing them together is not always possible, artificial insemination could be a solution to a fertility problem.
Recommended housing of the rooster.
The male birds can be housed in individual cages, but they need to have enough room to be able to crow.
A suggested cage size is 45 em wide, 60 cm deep and 60 cm high. The feed and water containers should be hung on the outside of the cage. Male birds respond to the people handling them and a quiet, unhurried approach is necessary with careful handling. During the collection of semen, it is essential that visitors remain outside the shed. This will prevent the birds from becoming frightened. It is a good idea that the males are housed in close- proximity to the hens so that the time between collection and in- semination is kept to a minimum. Prior to use, the selected male birds should be examined for external parasites, particularly poultry lice, and treated accordingly. It is also a good idea to clip the feathers from around the vent area to give easy access to the male organ. This applies particularly to loose-feathered breeds of poultry.
Semen Collection.
For this operation two people are needed, one for holding and collecting the semen (holder), the other (operator) to stimulate the control flow of semen. The holder rests the male bird's keel on the palm of his right hand in a horizontal position so that the head is between the holder's side and elbow, the bird's legs being free to move. It is important to hold the male bird 1oosely to gain the desired result. The holder's left hand is used to collect the semen.
The operator holds the rooster's legs loosely but firmly in his right hand and strokes the back of the bird from neck to tall with his left hand. The stroke is firm but not tight and the fingers and thumb fol- low the lateral contours of the body. After a few strokes, the male organ swells and protrudes outwards and downwards. The white semen will he seen in the central furrow of the organ. The semen is milked down by firm finger pressure either side of the vent into the collecting tube.
The male bird should he milked three or four times before insemination is required to check semen quantity and colour. If the male bird refuses to produce semen after 10 days of handling or if the semen, which should be white, is discoloured due to contamination by faecal material or blood, then it is probably useless to persevere with him.
Insemination of the Hen.
The hen is held by the left hand being placed over the breast with the bird's back forced against the holder's body, the head pointing to the ground. The right hand is placed over the vent so that the thumb is above and forefinger below the vent. A sudden pressure exerted around the breast area and, at the same time, using the thumb and forefinger to spread apart the cloaca, resulting in the turning of the cloaca inside out. The operator, with 0.1 mi of semen or 0.2 mi of diluted semen drawn up in the inseminating tube, places this tube as far as possible in the exposed oviduct opening seen at the left side of the intestinal opening. The semen is introduced at the same time as the holder releases the pressure and the cloaca returns to its normal position.
Regularity of Insemination.
Inseminations should be carried out on two consecutive days the first week and then once each week thereafter while fertile eggs are required.
As poultry semen has a very limited life, insemination of hens should he complete within one hour of semen collection.
It is a good idea to carry out the operation at the same time each day, the best time being between 2.00pm and 4.00pm. The reason for this is that during the morning, most hens have an egg in the oviduct, thus obstructing the free passage of semen to the ovary. Another point in favour of inseminating the hens in the afternoon is that it is generally cooler and the hens are less likely to be affected by heat, particularly in late spring.
Observation has shown that eggs are fertile after the second day of insemination and can remain fertile for two weeks or more. If another male is to be used on the same hen in a breeding program, it is suggested that a period of three weeks elapse before the second male is used.
If large numbers of male birds are to be used for artificial insemination, it is suggested that, prior to their use, a sample of the semen he examined under a microscope to check sperm motility as them is a good correlation between sperm movement and fertility.
Equipment Required.
The equipment need not be lavish or expensive. It consists of a glass or plastic test tube for collecting semen from the male, a 3 cc hypodermic syringe with 0.1 ml graduations, a rubber connection (bicycle valve rubber), and a 0.5 cm external diameter glass inseminating tube 9 cm in length. Sometimes, a small plastic funnel is used where semen collection may be difficult. Equipment is illustrated below.
Artificial Insemination Equipment From top, clockwise: Syringe with inseminating tube and rubber connection. Ringer's Solution. Glass Tube
In order to increase the number of hens that can be inseminated from the same rooster, the semen may be diluted with a solution known as modified Ringer's solution. The composition of this solution is as follows:
- Sodium chloride 68 grams
- Potassium chloride 17.33 grams
- Calcium chloride 6.4 2 grams
- Magnesium sulphate 2.50 grams
- Sodium bicarbonate 24.50 grams
- Distilled water 10 000 cc
Rather than go to the trouble and expense of preparing this solution, it can be purchased from some pharmaceutical companies. The degree to which semen can be diluted is in the ratio of one part semen to 2 parts diluent.
References:
- The Concise Oxford Dictionary.
- An article from the ‘Australasian Poultry’ ‘Artificial Insemination – its use in Poultry Breeding’ by H.W. Burton.
- Various Notes: from my journal and notes books collected over the years. The many sources of these ‘bits and pieces’ notes, collected since I was a teenager, were not recorded. It is only in my later years that I have learnt to record the sources of my note taking and quotes.