Environmental Temperature and Infertility in White Leghorns

SOME of the factors that influence the proportion of eggs infertile among those laid by hens mated with a single male cannot be easily controlled, if at all, while others, of which environmental temperature is one, can be readily controlled if it is profitable to do so. It has been demonstrated by Payne and Ingram (1927) that if the combs and wattles of breeding males are frozen their fertility is greatly reduced. That low temperatures which do not cause injury by freezing may also lower fertility was suggested recently by Hays and Sanborn (1939), who presented evidence that fertility of Rhode Island Reds gradually improved during the spring concurrent with, and presumably as a result of, the seasonal rise in environmental temperature. The present study was undertaken to determine whether fertility in White Leghorns, probably more susceptible to cold than Rhode Island Reds because of larger combs and wattles and . . .