[Autofertilisation in the chicken (Gallus domesticus)(author's transl)].

It is a well known fact that after removal of the left ovary in the young chicken, the right gonad starts growing and assumes the structure of an immature testis. In the cases reported in the literature active spermatogenesis rarely occurred. To bring autofertilisation of the hen closer to reality, we used ten day-old female embryos, whose gonads were divided between two gonadectomized young animals of different sex. In this way the left ovary became functional in an ovariectomized hen, whereas the right ovary from the same embryo was masculinized into a fertile "testicle" in a castrated male host. If these animals, whose germ cells come from one and the same embryo, are mated one can speak of autofertilisation, and inbred lines can be bred within a few generations. A quarter of the ova (ZW chromosomal pattern) fertilised with sperm of the right ovary (with also a ZW chromosomal pattern) will produce "WW-hens". After mating of these hens with normal cocks (ZZ), the offspring will be exclusively female (ZW).