Behavioural responses of cockerels to semen collection and their influence on semen characteristics

One-hundred-and-twenty cockerels of Strain L2 Taiwan Country chicken from the National Chung-Hsing University were tested for their behavioural responses to semen collection at 21 to 30, 34 to 43 and 57 to 66 weeks of age. At every age period, semen was collected from every cockerel 4 times within a 1-week period. 2. Cockerel performances on most semen traits, including volume, concentration, total number of sperm, ease of collection and sensitivity to massage were very consistent within each age period. 3. Males that did not respond nervously to handling or were less sensitive to massage appeared to produce less semen. However, contamination was more serious in males that responded very nervously or were very sensitive to massage. 4. Sensitivity to massage, like semen volume, is an invariant character as indicated by the high correlation between measures taken at different age periods.