Albino poult

[The real Eowyn]

Boy was I surprised!
The breed is Spanish black and this is the first albino since I started 7 years ago.
Three turkey poults and 3 chicks.

 

[Molpet]

Do you think it's albino and not white?

 

[R2elk]

I don't see red eyes that are associated with an albino. Looks like it is just a recessive white but there is at least another variety that starts with a yellow poult (Royal Palm).

If it is a white poult, it would most likely mean that you have a hen and a tom that are carrying the recessive white gene (c).

 

[The real Eowyn]

Do you think it's albino and not white?

 

[The real Eowyn]

I don’t know. Out of thousands of chicks over the years this one shows up.
White is definitely preferable to albino.

 

[Amer]

I don’t know. Out of thousands of chicks over the years this one shows up.
White is definitely preferable to albino.

Albino and recessive white both are recessive. Albino being more rare doesn’t mean it works any different from the white. So it’s very likely recessive white.
Are you a LotR fan by any chance? (Based on your username.)

 

[The real Eowyn]

Albino and recessive white both are recessive. Albino being more rare doesn’t mean it works any different from the white. So it’s very likely recessive white.
Are you a LotR fan by any chance? (Based on your username.)

My parents named me Eowyn.
I just want my little one to be healthy. Albinos often have other health problems.

 

[Amer]

My parents named me Eowyn.
I just want my little one to be healthy. Albinos often have other health problems.

Cool

 

[Finnie]

My parents named me Eowyn.
I just want my little one to be healthy. Albinos often have other health problems.

You did not answer whether it has red eyes or not. But since the eyes look dark in the photo, you probably don’t have to worry about it being albino.

I bred budgies (parakeets) for years. Albino and lutino (the yellow version- albinism doesn’t affect yellow pigment) are very common. I never noticed any health issues in my red-eyed birds. However they did have the benefit of living in a climate and light controlled indoor environment. So I imagine it would be different for turkeys living outdoors in the direct sunshine.

Interesting how genetics works. You would think that if you had the recessive white gene in your flock it would have shown up sooner. Maybe you only had 1 bird with it and it took this long for the descendants of that bird to pair up to be able to give it to the chick from both sides. If that is the case, you can expect a lot more white offspring to show up if those same two parents keep mating.

Is your breeding pen arranged in such a way that you could figure out which are the parents of the white poult?

 

[Molpet]

I never noticed any health issues in my red-eyed birds. However they did have the benefit of living in a climate and light controlled indoor environment. So I imagine it would be different for turkeys living outdoors in the direct sunshine.

As a kid we had a mare that had several albino foals. None of them lived more than a few weeks. All her other foals lived normal lives