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This study reports the biotransformation and persistence of PCBs in the hen, her eggs, and chicks hatched from these eggs. Twelve White Leghorn hens and one rooster were given 50 /~g/ml of the PCB mixture Aroclor 1254 in their drinking water (6.3 mg/kg body weight) for six weeks. The resultant concentration in the yolk of eggs laid during the following 20 weeks and in the tissues of surviving embryos and chicks was determined by thin-layer chromatography and gas chromatography. Mortality of embryos and deformity of chicks were found to be correlated with PCB content of the eggs. Moreover, after storage of the PCB mixture in the hen's body, the toxic potency of the PCB mixture deposited in the eggs more than ~t t I doubled. It was shown that 3,4,_.3,6,pentachloroblphenyl (peak 9) was cleared faster from the hen than 3,4,21,4',5-pentachlorobiphenyl (peak 12) and 2,3,4,2',4',5'-hexachlorobiphenyl (peak 14) and that 4,4'-chlorination is more important than degree of chlorination in determining persistence of chlorinated biphenyls in the hen, embryo, and chick.

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