Telomeres are the ends of the eukaryotic chromosomes and consist of a tandem repetitive DNA sequence and shelterin protein complex. The function of telomere is to protect chromosome. Telomere length in somatic cells tends to decrease with organismal age due to the end replication problem. However, several factors at the genetic, epigenetic and environmental level affect telomere length. In this study, we estimated heritability of telomere length and investigated inheritance of telomeres in a chicken. Telomere length of lymphocytes was analyzed by semi-quantitative polymerase chain reaction using telomere primer and quantitative fluorescence in situ hybridization using telomeric DNA probe. In results, heritability of telomere length was estimated 0.9 at birth by offspring-parent regression analysis and was estimated 0.03 and 0.04 at 10 and 30 weeks old, respectively, by parental variance analysis. There was a significant positive correlation in telomere length between father and their offspring (r=0.348), and mother and their offspring (r=0.380). In inheritance patterns of telomere length, the influence of paternal and maternal effect on their offspring was similar. The influence of inherited telomeres on male and female progeny was also roughly alike. These results implicated that imprinting of parental telomere length was regulated by autosomal genes, not sex linked genes. In addition, telomere length of offspring at birth did not differ along with their maternal age. Thus, maternal age does not affects telomere length in their offspring at birth owing to cellular reprogramming at early embryonic stage.