Chicken egg fertilization can happen either naturally, or through artificial insemination. The fertilization of a chicken egg, is a basic step in poultry breeding.
Both natural and artificial egg fertilization methods have pros and cons. However, they both have a place depending on type of poultry farming and breeding you are doing.
The method that you choose will depend on your context. Nonetheless, it is important to know the differences in order to pick a method that most suitable. Sometimes, other factors apart from those mentioned here may affect your choice.
Chicken egg fertilization
In a previous article we did a quick overview of the chicken egg fertilization process. Notably, artificial mating has been in use since the 1950s. That is, over 70 years. It is a tried and true method.
In addition, we presented how you can tell a fertilized egg from an unfertilized egg. That is, either by breaking an egg or through egg candling.
Natural vs artificial chicken egg fertilization
There are notable differences in natural and artificial chicken egg fertilization methods.
Each method has its own benefits and drawbacks. However, we cannot say that one is conclusively better than the other. It all depends on the context.
For instance, backyard farmers may be content with optimizing natural egg fertilization. On the other hand, farmers interested in selective breeding might opt for artificial insemination.
| Natural egg fertilization | Artificial egg fertilization |
|---|---|
| Requires that a rooster and chicken mate | Is a delicate process that requires special training |
| Sometimes, but not usually, hens can get injured during mating | Must be done under special conditions to guarantee success |
| Requires a balanced rooster to hen ratio to ensure hens are not stressed | Requires special tools |
| Lack of a proper rooster-hen ratio can result into rooster fights | Enables selective breeding |
| Fighting among roosters can result in reduced successful mating | Increases mating ratio, one rooster’s sperm can be deposited in more hens |
| Requires no special care | Eliminate preferential mating |
| Can be used to bypass pecking order mating | |
| Sperm quality monitoring can guarantee higher success |
Furthermore artificial fertilization is specialized. It requires special training, and tools. In addition, it must be conducted under certain condition to ensure high success rate.
Poultry punch presents presents some curious benefits of artificial insemination in chicken. Let us know if we missed something in the comments below.
Rooster hen ratio
On a side note, we would like to mention a few words on the rooster hen ratio. A rooster hen does affect natural poultry mating in a number of ways.
Firstly, if you have few roosters in contrast to hen count, egg fertilization percentage will be low. A healthy rooster can mate about 10 times a day. However, sperm quality goes decreases as the number of mating times go up.
| Rooster to hen ratio | Possible outcome |
|---|---|
| Low 1 roosters to 5 hens or more | Low mating success rate |
| Optimal 1 Rooster to 3 hens | Optimal mating |
| High 1 Rooster to 2 hens or less | Fighting amongst roosters Repeated mating with certain hens Stressed hens Injured hens Low mating success rate |
Secondly, if you have too many roosters, this may also affect mating. For instance, this can promote fighting among the roosters. Fighting amongst roosters might result in lower successful mating.
Thirdly, if you have too many roosters, it may result to repeated mating of some hens. Consequently, this may stress hens in a flock, and even result to injury. Stress and injury to hens are not conducive to the production of fertilized eggs.
Different poultry breeds will have different mating behaviour. It is up to you to observe you chicken and ensure the rooster to hen ratio is conducive to optimal natural mating.