The effect of in ovo administration of ovine growth hormone (oGH) on growth and adipose tissue development of chickens was investigated. Unlike mammalian species, exogenous growth hormone has not been previously shown to increase growth of aves. In trial 1, fertilized eggs were injected with vehicle (.03 M NaHCO3 in .15 M NaCl, pH 8.3), 0.25, 2.5, 25 or 250 micrograms oGH on day 11 of embryogenesis. In trial 2, fertile eggs were injected with vehicle or 250 micrograms oGH. In contrast to previous studies in which GH was administered to growing birds, oGH injected in ovo in the present study increased body weights, skeletal growth and feed efficiencies of male broilers. Growth rate was not altered in females. Adipose cellularity data from both trials indicated that in ovo oGH also altered adipose tissue development of broilers. Seven-week-old male and female broilers treated with oGH during embryogenesis exhibited larger adipocytes with correspondingly less cell per gram of tissue. Additionally, adipocytes from oGH-treated broilers exhibited decreased sensitivity to glucagon, cholera toxin or theophylline-induced lipolysis responsiveness to dcAMP in ovo. Cholera toxin plus theophylline improved the lipolytic response of oGH-treated birds; thus, in broilers injected with oGH cAMP-mediated lipase activation may be reduced by a mechanism of increased phosphodiesterase activity. The results of this study indicate that growth and tissue development of chickens have been altered by mammalian GH in ovo.