Recovery of Spermatozoa from the Reproductive Tract of Turkey Hens

VARIOUS attempts have been made by several workers using different procedures to recover spermatozoa from the oviduct of chickens. Payne (1914) collected the scrapings from the different parts of the oviduct and recovered tailless sperm from 2 to 56 days after separation of hens from the roosters. Walton and Whetham (1933) were unable to find spermatozoa in the oviduct of the hens from 1 to 15 days after separation from the cocks. Warren and Kilpatrick (1929) placed small amounts of normal saline solution on the mucous membrane of the oviduct and collected a sample with a platinum loop. They recovered sperm from 6 hours to 18 days after natural mating, most of which had lost their flagella. Van Drimmelen (1945) added Ringer’s physiological saline solution on the inner surface of the oviduct with the help of a fine capillary glass tube and collected the material with the same tube… .