The onset of egg production (mean 18.3 days after the onset of photostimulation) and the rate of egg production (flock averaged 4.9 eggs per bird per week for the first 8 weeks of egg production) were not affected by 5 days of twice daily oviduct eversion ('venting') in the pre-laying period when compared to unvented controls. After the onset of photostimulation, pre-laying hens were inseminated twice daily on Days 12 to 16 with 3 microliter semen containing 15 x 10(6) spermatozoa, and compared with groups of hens inseminated once daily on Days 15 and 16 with 15 microliters semen containing 75 x 10(6) spermatozoa or 41 microliter semen containing 200 x 10(6) spermatozoa. Fertility remained high for the first 5 weeks of egg production. However, by Week 6 the fertility of the hens receiving frequent low doses of semen dropped significantly below that of the others, which suggests that multiple inseminations with a low semen volume containing relatively low numbers of spermatozoa does not lead to an increase in the efficacy of sperm transport and storage in the oviduct.