EFFICIENCY OF PRODUCING WHITE LEGHORN HATCHING EGGS VIA ARTIFICIAL-INSEMINATION AND NATURAL MATING

White Leghorn pullets housed in stairstep cages were artificially inseminated with 0.05 ml semen every 7 days, 0.05 ml semen every 6 days, or with 0.05 ml, 0.07 ml or 0.09 ml semen every 7 days. The resulting fertility and hatchability were compared with that obtained from natural mating in colony cages or on slat-litter floors with a male to female ratio of 1:10. Data were also obtained on production efficiency factors and labor required for artificial insemination. Fertility from the pullets artificially inseminated every 7 days with 0.05 ml semen (94%) was not as high as that obtained with natural mating on slat-litter floors (98%) but was equal to that obtained in the colony cages (94%) with natural mating. Increasing the insemination frequency to mice every 6 days or increasing the volume of semen inseminated to 0.07 ml or 0.09 ml did not significantly improve fertility in the artificially inseminated pullets. Pullets in the stairstep cages performed significantly better than those in the colony cages in egg production and percentage cracked and dirty eggs. They also performed significantly better than both those in the colony cages and slat-litter floor pens in percentage large eggs and feed conversion. Insemination rates in the bottom rows of the stairstep cages were higher than those in the upper rows. The highest rates obtained in the bottom rows were 267 hens/man h for insemination alone and 145 hens/man h for semen collection and insemination.