Artificial insemination in chickens, call me crazy!

[Weeg]

Goodness, I'm slightly surprised at myself that I'm making this post lol! I plan on starting a small flock business next spring selling bantam and standard chicks. I'm very excited, and have started thinking about 2 different breeding projects I want to try out. A Cornish X, Barred Rock cross is why I'm asking.
I have two hens who I want to breed with a BR rooster, but a friend of mine, (who is doing the breeding with me,) kept a Cornish X cockerel to breed with her Asian black hen. It's too late now for her to keep a hen, since she didn't separate one and its butcher time. I'm starting to realize that breeding him may be a problem for obvious reasons.
So, I read an article talking about AI. It said that some Turkey and Cornish X breeders use AI to get purebreds since they can have a hard time getting good fertility. I read an article about the process, and it didn't sound impossible, but definitely not simple. I'm wondering if any of the breeders on here have experience with it.
If you do have experience, is it something that I could safely experiment with and not hurt anyone, or is it something you have to be experienced with to attempt? I would be willing to try it for sure, it sounds like an interesting experiment. How difficult is it? Does it badly impact the chickens in any way, or could I hurt them if done wrong? Thanks for any suggestions, I'm interested to hear your responses.

 

[Weeg]

@JacinLarkwell @MysteryChicken?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It takes some practice to get results. I used to know how to do everyrhing, but it's been a while since I last practiced.

 

[Weeg]

It takes some practice to get results. I used to know how to do everyrhing, but it's been a while since I last practiced.

My biggest question is, am I going to accidentally hurt the rooster if I do it wrong? If not, I feel pretty confident in at least trying.
I watched a video from a thread started a while back. After milking the rooster, the lady simply flipped the hen upside down, and used the dropped to drop the semen into/onto the hens vent. Is that it? I thought I read in another article that you have to do more then that.

 

[cassie]

I don't know why it wouldn't work. I lived down the road from a turkey breeding farm and they used AI all the time. If you are gentle you won't hurt the chickens. I am not at all sure how you collect the semen. See if there is a video on youtube. I haven't looked, but there seems to be one for everything else.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

We used a spoon, not a dropper when we were being shown how to do it. I honestly don't know if you can hurt the males, we just stroked his back until it happened

 

[Weeg]

I don't know why it wouldn't work. I lived down the road from a turkey breeding farm and they used AI all the time. If you are gentle you won't hurt the chickens. I am not at all sure how you collect the semen. See if there is a video on youtube. I haven't looked, but there seems to be one for everything else.

Let me find the video I watched. She stroked his back and then pressed/squeezed slightly I think? I'll have to watch it again but it definitely seems worth a try.

 

[Weeg]

Heres the video-

 

[cassie]

My biggest question is, am I going to accidentally hurt the rooster if I do it wrong? If not, I feel pretty confident in at least trying.
I watched a video from a thread started a while back. After milking the rooster, the lady simply flipped the hen upside down, and used the dropped to drop the semen into/onto the hens vent. Is that it? I thought I read in another article that you have to do more then that.

I think that is all the rooster does.

 

[Weeg]

I think that is all the rooster does.

Ya thats what I thought to. Its not like the rooster does anything special.