Why Artificial Insemination ?

If you are a backyard chicken or turkey farmer whose hens are not producing chickens, artificial insemination with a proven rooster or tom can save you surgery. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, “If done correctly, fertility rates can be higher or higher than those obtained through natural insemination. “Insemination takes time and effort, and you may need several attempts before the procedure works for you.

Sperm Collection Method

Artificial insemination (AI) techniques actually begin before the procedure. The body of male hens increases the amount of semen available. Because the bird’s penis is located in the same tube as its anus, removing food 12 hours before collection will help prevent fecal contamination of the sperm. Roosters and Tom turkeys should be routinely primed to collect semen for several days before the actual AI procedure to ensure each bird is fertile by microscopic examination of the semen.
As by collecting sperm from other farm animals, you need to stimulate the copulation (sexual) organ of your bird to expand beyond its body. One person can handle this procedure with small birds such as chickens or quails; . It usually takes two people with a big turkey or goose.
Start by upending your male, and holding your head under your arm and supporting your body in your lap, grab his legs in one hand and your tail in the other. Start stroking tightly in the middle of his back to the end of his tail with one hand. With the other hand (usually one held on the feet), use two fingers to massage his vent. The opening is the area between the bird’s abdomen and its tail. Once the bird is comfortable and calm, start massaging the pubic bone between its legs. His penis will turn into an erection and pull out of his body. As semen flows from the phallus into a fertile bird, you can collect it with an aspirator or some small tube.

How To Inseminate ?

Because bird semen loses viability within an hour hens insemination should begin immediately after collection. You can start by holding the hen upside down to your body in the same way you held the rooster or Tom. Applying firm pressure on the left side of the vent causes the cloaca (the urogenital opening of the bird) to Evert, you will need to use your thumb and forefinger to expose the fallopian tube (vagina). The fallopian tube is the opening of the left side of the cloaca to the anus. You can insert the insemination tube as far as possible to the fallopian tube, then squeeze the semen and release the pressure on the cloaca at the same time. Relaxing the cloaca draws the sperm further into the body of the chicken.
For maximum fertility during the breeding season. per season, laying hens can be inseminated every 10 to 14 days because of Tom’s highly concentrated semen, depending on the Merck Veterinary Manual. Chicken inseminations can be completed on two consecutive days and then once a week thereafter. Since most hens will lay one egg in their fallopian tubes in the morning, thus obstructing the path of sperm to the ovary, insemination should occur in the afternoons after laying.