Research Note: The Effects of Switching Males Among Caged Females on Egg Production and Hatchability in Japanese Quail

For a half-sib mating design each male was switched among four females that were kept in separate cages once a day, so that each female was paired with a male every 4th day. Control males were permanently paired with one female each. There was some evidence that the mating system involving switching of males among females decreased egg production and hatchability by about 9 and 16%, respectively. The present study argues, however, that the slight decrease in hatchability, which was only present in some males, does not prevent the application of this method for half-sib breeding designs to estimate heritabilities.