Differences in Erythrocyte Measurements of Intersex and Normal Adult Chickens

INTRODUCTION RECENT, limited observations on some apparently normal commercial flocks of egg-type chickens indicate that intersex individuals may appear in a very low frequency of about 1:2000. These flocks are usually sexed at hatching to retain only the females. Phenotypically, the examined intersexes were intermediate in their secondary sexual characteristics to that of normal males and females. Karyotype analysis revealed two groups within these intersex chickens, one being triploid (3A-ZZW) while the other was mosaic for male and female karyotypes (Abdel-Hameed and Shoffner, 1971). The erythrocytes of an intersex chicken suspected of being triploid were observed by Oleson (1969) to be distinctly larger than those of its normal sisters. This observation suggested the present study in which red blood cell (R.B.C.) measurements for several intersexes and normal males and females are compared. MATERIALS AND METHODS Seven intersex chickens about 8 months of age were secured from large flocks of commercial…