POULTRY PRODUCTION IS CURRENTLY THE FASTEST-GROWING MEAT SECTOR WORLDWIDE AND THE UNITED STATES CURRENTLY HAS THE LARGEST BROILER CHICKEN INDUSTRY GLOBALLY. THE BROILER INDUSTRY'S FOCUS ON GENETIC SELECTION FOR SUPERIOR GROWTH-RELATED TRAITS HAS MADE BROILER CHICKENS HIGHLY EFFICIENT. CONSEQUENTLY, BROILER BREEDER HENS, THE PARENT STOCK OF COMMERCIAL BROILERS, HAVE POOR REPRODUCTIVE EFFICEINCY DUE TO SEVERE OVARIAN DYSFUNCTION. THIS COULD BE RELATED TO THEIR RAPID SOMATIC GROWTH AND PROPENSITY TO PUT ON EXCESSIVE AMOUNTS OF VISCERAL ADIPOSE TISSUE, HOWEVER, A LACK OF THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE OVARIAN DYSFUNCTION ENCOUNTERED IN THESE HENS REMAINS A CRITICAL GAP IN KNOWLEDGE IN OUR EFFORTS TO IMPROVE FERTILE EGG PRODUCTION.TO BETTER UNDERSTAND THIS OVARIAN DYSFUNCTION, BROILER BREEDER HENS WILL BE PUT INTO THREE DIFFERENT TREATMENT GROUPS; 1) RESTRICTED FED ACCORDING TO INDUSTRY STANDARDS AND ACCORDING TO THE BREEDER MANAGEMENT GUIDE, 2) PROVIDED DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF FEED RECOMMENDED BY THE BREEDER MANAGEMENT GUIDE AND 3) RESTRICTED FED AND SUPPLEMENTED WITH METFORMIN IN THE DIET (PREVIOUS STUDIES IN OUR LAB HAVE SHOWN THAT METFORMIN IS ABLE TO IMPROVE EGG PRODUCTION AND MINIMIZE ADIPOSE TISSUE ACCRETION). DATA WILL BE COLLECTED FROM THESE HENS WHICH WILL BE USED TO ADVANCE OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE ROLE INCREASED VISCERAL ADIPOSITY HAS ON OVARIAN FUNCTION. FINDINGS WILL PROVIDE SPECIFIC TARGETS FOR IMPROVING OVARIAN FUNCTION AND THUS INCREASE THE REPRODUCTIVE EFFICIENCY AND FERTILE EGG PRODUCTION IN BROILER BREEDER HENS. THIS IS CRITICAL AS POULTRY CONSUMPTION CONTINUES TO RISE GLOBALLY.