Turkeys For 2013

[piglett]

Reminder Turkeys for2014 is well underway. So if you don't find us here, we'll be over there. THe plan was to close this thread end of December 2013 . . . .

some of us are a bit slow
can you post the 2014 link?





thanks

 

[racinchickins]

Here you go:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/838701/turkey-talk-for-2014

 

[desertmarcy]

Could you tell me what page in the SOP it states that blue eyes are a DQ for turkeys? Because I cannot find that. It does state Slates should have brown eyes, but I do not see anywhere where blue eyes are a DQ. I do not believe having blue eyes per se means they will go blind.

Ah, I found it. It is under General Defects. Any color iris other than called for, points deducted 1/2 to 2. So blue eyes are considered a defect, but does not disqualify them.

 

[Sydney Acres]

Quote:
Blue eye color is not a cause of blindness, but in some animals there is an association between very light blue eyes and poor vision (and other neurological problems, such as deafness). In other words, the same genetic problem that causes the blindness or the deafness or the other neuro issues also cause the "abnormal" eye color, so there's an association, but not a cause-and effect, relationship. However, the majority of blue eyed animals have no medical problems at all.

Your post made me pull out both my SOP and my British Poultry Standards (BPS). My BPS is current, but my SOP is 1998, so things may have changed in the last 15 years. I have checked the general disqualifications section, the eye disqualifications section, and the turkey disqualification section, and I also can't find mention of blue eyes being a disqualification. There is a 2 point deduction for the eyes not matching in color. and proper eye color is worth 2 points, but those are the only mention of eye color penalties I could find.

Even if this was a DQ, I would still keep and use this particular tom with matching bicolor eyes. He is excellent in other ways, and a tom with bicolored eyes mated to a hen with brown eyes logically should produce a large portion of poults with brown eyes. After a few generations of careful selection, I would think that the blue eye color would be eliminated, or at least be very rare.

 

[chickadoodles]

Thanks for warning me. I know that blue eyes are a DQ, but because his are only partially blue and partially dark brown, I am hoping that I can selectively breed the blue eyes out of the line. He is otherwise an excellent quality bird (as much as you can tell in a 6 month old), so if I can eliminate the blue eyes I'll have a great line. I don't know about turkeys, but in most mammals that have problems because of blue eyes (cats, dogs, horses, many rodents), it is the very light blue eyes ("ice blue") that tend to have the most problems, and the deeper royal blue and bi-color eyes have significantly less issues. (That's not to say that all blue eyed cats, dogs, horses, etc have issues, but just that the ones that do have medical problems because of blue eyes are more likely to have ice blue eyes instead of darker blue or bi-color eyes.) If that holds true in turkeys, the bi-color may spare him, especially since the blue portion is a very deep intense blue (if you look at the bottom of this page where it says "BackYard Chickens is proudly sponsored by," look for the ChickenDoors.com advertisement. His blue portion is the same color as is used in the word "doors.com").

How old was your bird when it went blind? Was the blindness sudden or a slow onset? Did it develop cataracts, or did something else cause the blindness?

It seems that blindness is a frequent issue with turkeys, and not just from blue eyes. My own nearly-blind turkey is a black hen, has dark brown eyes, and has been "neurologically abnormal" in many ways since I obtained her at 2 days old. In her, I think it is either an inherited problem, or a non-heredity birth defect, based in her brain. Does anyone know the most frequent cause(s) of blindness in turkeys?

My slate went blind slowly and it was very sad. I did read on Porters site about the blue eyes.
I hope that you don't have a problem with yours. It is just very sad to watch them go blind. And I am sorry that you have one that is also.

 

[chickadoodles]

Could you tell me what page in the SOP it states that blue eyes are a DQ for turkeys? Because I cannot find that. It does state Slates should have brown eyes, but I do not see anywhere where blue eyes are a DQ. I do not believe having blue eyes per se means they will go blind.

Please excuse me if I guess I was wrong. I read on Porters site that blue eyes were unacceptable. But I just looked at it and it is gone? I am not sure why. But I know I did read it on his site about slates.

 

[uphilljill]

MWs usually have blue eyes as a breed trait. They're not SOP recognized, so I guess it doesn't matter DQ-wise. No problem with their vision so far.

 

[chicken pickin]

I cant believe this thread is almost done. Its been a great year. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

We had a turkey yesterday for dinner at our Christmas Eve party. She was a 25.5lb BBW hen. Yum!

 

[desertmarcy]

Please excuse me if I guess I was wrong. I read on Porters site that blue eyes were unacceptable. But I just looked at it and it is gone? I am not sure why. But I know I did read it on his site about slates.

I am raising Self Blues (Lavender) that I got from Porter this spring. Two reasons I got them, one was to outcross to my existing Slates since I thought they were getting a little too inbred. Two was to introduce brown eyes, since my Slates and one Self Blue are all blue-eyed. Well guess what, the birds are over 6 months old now and I just finished catching all my hen turkeys, banded them, and rearranged into the breeding pens for this coming year, and all 3 of the Self Blue hens have blue eyes! One of the Self Blue toms has definite brown eyes, and the other one has sort of 1/2 and 1/2 brown-blue. I put the brown-eyed tom over my Slates and the other one over the Self Blues. Personally, SOP and blindness issues aside, I like the look of the blue eyes in the Slates and Self Blues.

 

[Arielle]

Here you go:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/838701/turkey-talk-for-2014

Thank you for getting this up!

I cant believe this thread is almost done. Its been a great year. I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas!

We had a turkey yesterday for dinner at our Christmas Eve party. She was a 25.5lb BBW hen. Yum!

Lovely dinner!!

Quote: Could it be that the blue eyes make them look that much more human???