The present study was carried out to estimate genetic parameters for birth weight (BW), weaning weight (WW) and average daily gain (ADG) in Barki sheep. The data set used in the present study were records of 1176 lambs, progenies of 83 sires and 690 dams, collected during 1994 to 2001 from the Barki sheep flock raised at Maryout research station, 35 km west of Alexandria, Egypt. The statistical analysis was carried out using restricted maximum likelihood (MTDFREML) methods. Four for model of animal models program including or ignoring maternal genetic and permanent environmental effects were fitted for the studied traits. These models included sex, year of birth and dam's age as fixed effects in addition to animal, sires and dams as random effects. Direct heritability obtained from Model 3, included only maternal additive effects, was estimated at 0.11 for BW, 0.15 for WW and 0.13 for ADG. Maternal heritability estimates for BW, WW and ADG were 0.11, 0.04 and 0.02, respectively. Correlation coefficients between direct additive and maternal genetic effects were high and negative ranged from – 0.97 to 0.99. Results indicated that in addition to additive direct genetic effect, additive maternal genetic effects need to be considered when carrying out genetic evaluations of early growth traits for improving growth performance in Barki sheep.