Infertility in the Turkey

A spontaneous infertility condition in hens taken from a commercial turkey flock was studied. Forty-eight hens from the original flock of about 2200 were housed in cages to obtain individual fertility records. Thirteen of the 48 hens were sterile upon arrival from the parent flock while five laid eggs which were all fertile. The fertility of other individuals fell between these extremes. Even hens with fertility as low as 9% laid a scattering of fertile eggs after insemination, showing they did store sperm. Reinsemination of the hens with good quality semen did not ameliorate the condition. Insemination in a manner designed to bypass the normal sperm storage glands (i.e. intramagnal AI) increased fertility from less than 10% to over 85%. Hens inseminated in this manner had an average fertility level of 70.6% in the second week after AI and 23.1% in the third. Low fertility hens which underwent a period of sexual rest and ovarian and oviducal regression had high levels of fertility when egg laying resumed. In the 7th and 8th weeks after resumption of lay it appeared that fertility was again declining.