Hello,
I have three painted turkeys, all with abnormal eyes. They are from Porter’s Turkeys and were hatched in October 2023. All of the turkeys arrived with typical eyes and did not have any problems initially. There are two males and one hen. The hen has cloudy blue eyes with black splotches, and I believe she has mostly lost her sight. It started with one eye, but both of her eyes have been that way for about a year. She was the first to have eye problems. One of the males has recently started having vision problems, and one of his eyes has become cloudy blue with black spots. I believe he is blind in one eye. His eyelids are misshapen, with indentations or scalloped shapes. The other male does not seem to have any issues, but his left eye is blue with black spots, and the right eye is half brown and half blue, with black spots on the blue half. Their pupils are also not perfectly circular.
Do painted turkeys have any known problems with their eyes? They may be slate-painted; do slates have eye problems that cause clouding of the eyes and vision loss? Could a nutritional deficiency be a possible cause? They are fed NatureWise All Flock and Audubon Park Pigeon Feed with Whole Corn, but they occasionally get meat bird, game bird maintenance, scratch grains, or layer feed from any available brand when All Flock isn’t in stock. They also get wildlife blocks or flock blocks. One of the hens has a brittle white beard. If anyone has any feed recommendations or a list of nutritional requirements for free-range heritage turkeys not raised for meat, I would appreciate it.
Another unrelated question: Does Porter’s Turkeys breed for beards in their hens? I have 5 out of 6 hens with beards from Porter’s, 1 out of 2 bearded hens from a feed store, and 3 out of 6 bearded hens that are offspring of the turkeys.
I have three painted turkeys, all with abnormal eyes. They are from Porter’s Turkeys and were hatched in October 2023. All of the turkeys arrived with typical eyes and did not have any problems initially. There are two males and one hen. The hen has cloudy blue eyes with black splotches, and I believe she has mostly lost her sight. It started with one eye, but both of her eyes have been that way for about a year. She was the first to have eye problems. One of the males has recently started having vision problems, and one of his eyes has become cloudy blue with black spots. I believe he is blind in one eye. His eyelids are misshapen, with indentations or scalloped shapes. The other male does not seem to have any issues, but his left eye is blue with black spots, and the right eye is half brown and half blue, with black spots on the blue half. Their pupils are also not perfectly circular.
Do painted turkeys have any known problems with their eyes? They may be slate-painted; do slates have eye problems that cause clouding of the eyes and vision loss? Could a nutritional deficiency be a possible cause? They are fed NatureWise All Flock and Audubon Park Pigeon Feed with Whole Corn, but they occasionally get meat bird, game bird maintenance, scratch grains, or layer feed from any available brand when All Flock isn’t in stock. They also get wildlife blocks or flock blocks. One of the hens has a brittle white beard. If anyone has any feed recommendations or a list of nutritional requirements for free-range heritage turkeys not raised for meat, I would appreciate it.
Another unrelated question: Does Porter’s Turkeys breed for beards in their hens? I have 5 out of 6 hens with beards from Porter’s, 1 out of 2 bearded hens from a feed store, and 3 out of 6 bearded hens that are offspring of the turkeys.
