Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
In-Breeding:
In-breeding is when the breeder uses the stock they have. They will grade the birds and
only use chickens that produce the traits they were looking for. Outside birds were not used
for this purpose. It is a form of breeding that was practiced by those interested in fighting
cocks. They breed only from the best and most vigorous birds in the flock. This required
ruthless culling and using the youngest birds in the stock. They sought out the pairs that
produced the best performers in the pit. This meant that breeds were kept relatively pure,
as they did not use out breeding or cross breeding much, except to improve the vigor and
endurance of the bird.
Artificial Insemination:
The semen is collected by massaging the abdomen of the rooster and applying a little pres-
sure. Freshly collected semen is best for artificial insemination. Frozen sperm is not as fer-
tile as fresh sperm. This method will increase the fertility of the eggs, but requires some
skill so is best practiced by someone with experience.
In order to collect the maximum amount of sperm from the rooster the less stress the bird
experiences the more you can collect. If there is more of a struggle to capture and restrain
the rooster, less semen will be collected.
The advantages of artificial insemination are:
·
Roosters with good linage can fertilize particular hens easily.
· Fewer males can be used to fertilize the hens, which work out to more ef-
ficient feed to chicken ratio.
·
The recording of pedigree is more accurate.
·
5% to 10% increase in fertility can be achieved
· Large roosters can be paired with smaller hens, or pairing of a smaller
rooster with a larger hen can be done, using artificial insemination.
Sex-Link Cross:
