Gene and cell transfer technique will serve as a powerful tool for the genetic improvement of the poultry and to yield useful products. For avian transgenesis, Japanese quail may serve as an excellent animal model because of its small body size and fast growth rate. Recent progress was described on the manipulation of quail embryos such as the introduction of foreign genes and cells, and the subsequent culturing of the manipulated embryos yielding hatchlings. Intraspecific donor-derived offspring have been available in quail, however, further investigation will be required to obtain interspecific offspring with the aim of rescuing endangered species. Trans genesis will also be useful for improving the profitability and quality of poultry stocks and for developing stocks with novel uses. Considerable progress should soon be made toward the production of transgenic poultry. The key feature of the procedure described here is that embryos are initially taken out from the shell for ease of manipulation and then placed back in culture in addition to various operations midway during culture.