Fertility and Hatchability when the Environmental Temperature of Chickens is High

THE results of a few experiments indicate that fertility and hatchability are decreased when the environmental temperature of chickens is low. Payne and Ingram (1927), for example, observed a reduction in fertility and hatchability for a short time after the air temperature was so low that male breeders had their combs and wattles frozen. There appears to be no published information showing whether fertility and hatchability are affected when the environmental temperature of chickens is high. However, a study to obtain data on this subject was made recently at the Southwest Poultry Experiment Station, Glendale, Arizona, and the results are given in this paper. This station is in a region where daytime air temperatures are high during the summer months, and the data were obtained on eggs laid by pullets kept at the normal, rather than at artificially controlled, air temperatures. PROCEDURE The White Leghorn pullets from which eggs were . . .