Cataracts?

[casportpony]

The vet said he is blind. Her opinion is that he has been that way for a long time and is perhaps the reason he has never gotten up on a roost. The cloudy opaque spot on the lens only allows for a bit of peripheral vision in one eye. The other does not seem to work at all.

So sorry! What will you do with him?

-Kathy

 

[KsKingBee]

I have no idea. He is a nice bird and getting prettier all the time, but just a burden for me. We will see what the breeder that sold him to me says, then see if I can find him a home.

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

So sorry, this is too bad, after waiting all that time for an expensive bird that's not the thing you want to hear.

 

[Garden Peas]

Ya know, I sure wish someone would start a collection of DNA from these blind birds so peach/cameo breeders could screen for it and we could get it out of the breeding stock. Imagine if you had been breeding that bird for 5 or 6 years when it turned up. (You probably beat me to that by a full 24 hours)

 

[Garden Peas]

BTW, I have been wracking my nearly-senile brain, because I couldn't remember, but I think this is what was once referred to as the "cameo death gene" -- I couldn't remember if the birds actually had increased mortality from the gene itself, or simply as a consequence of the blindness. I'm am pretty sure there was more info over on the UPA forum (where the heck did it go???), but I found a couple of old threads with references to it here on BYC. You'll have to scroll through the page to find the stuff...

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/847427/peafowl-genetics-for-dummies-in-other-words-us/50

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/886960/peach-peafowl-any-health-or-genetic-problems

There's also a reference on this page which suggests bronze (or some of them) may have done variable white molting, but were thought not to go blind:

http://www.clnjr.com/Buford Bronze Peafowl.htm

However, if you read carefully in the first two BYC threads that I linked above, there is a mention of a bronze bird with progressive white that became blind. So perhaps there is an association after all?

@Birdrain92 , hurry up with that education of yours and see if you can't research this for us! This takes more lab equipment that even @casportpony has (I think)...

 

[Peafowlssssssss]

I heard of some progressive pied bronze peacocks that gone blind before, i think Alex had one? Anyway, for such a new color like peach you can imagine how many related birds were bred together to create a peach silver pied bird, and peach birds already have some genetic issues without being inbred, best choice will be buying spalding peach birds or regular peaches out of split birds.

 

[KsKingBee]

I heard of some progressive pied bronze peacocks that gone blind before, i think Alex had one? Anyway, for such a new color like peach you can imagine how many related birds were bred together to create a peach silver pied bird, and peach birds already have some genetic issues without being inbred, best choice will be buying spalding peach birds or regular peaches out of split birds.

The breeder I got them from said he did not have any Peach SP cocks but did offer me a free IB Pied split Peach.

He is putting it in the mail tomorrow.

It isn't what I bought, but I am very appreciative that he offered a replacement bird and according to what Q8 just said it may be a better choice.

 

[drumstick diva]

Do you think a petting zoo would be interested in taking him in? Are there any peacock rescues?

 

[new 2 pfowl]

Maybe this guy? @pafarmer
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/1088219/looking-for-some-birds

 

[KsKingBee]

Do you think a petting zoo would be interested in taking him in? Are there any peacock rescues?

Genius! I doubt he could ever breed, I surely wouldn't want him to. He would never be aggressive. If someone was willing to pay for having him nutered, (capone), I would give it to them.