A Procedure for Artificial Insemination of Japanese Quail

A SIMPLE effective technique for the artificial insemination of Japanese quail is needed if these birds are to realize their full potential as laboratory animals for poultry investigations. Wilson et al. (1961) observed 10 percent fertility when quail were inseminated by a modification of the Burrows and Quinn (1939) method. Fertility levels of 9 and 4 percent depending upon semen dosage were reported by Ogasawara and Huang (1963). A method developed by Wentworth and Mellen (1963) resulted in fertility of 77.5 percent of birds inseminated. The disadvantages of this method stem from the necessity of introducing a hypodermic needle through the hard shelled egg present in the uterus with deposition of the semen just beyond the anteroventral end of the egg. Aside from allowing insemination of only birds that have a hard shell egg in the uterus, the egg following each insemination is lost. The primary objective of this paper…