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Abstract
Nutritional flushing of mink females by ad lib. feeding from March 3 or 5, following a two week period of restricted feeding, was evaluated with respect to effects on the number and early development of the eggs shed in females mated once on March 7, 10, 14, 17, 20 and 24. Plasma oestradiol-17β was recorded at mating and at killing 3 or 4 days after mating. The average number of eggs recovered increased for females mated from March 7 to 17, after which time it declined. The number of early embryos was not significantly affected by flushing, but the early development of the eggs was enhanced, documented by a significantly higher percentage of eggs having reached the four-cell stage or more at killing. The effect was most pronounced for females mated early in the breeding season, and then levelled off.