beard rot

webbclan · 01-31-2008, 12:13 PM

My son took a bird last spring that had two beards and some serious hooks. However, the beards were only about an inch long and it was obvious that they were breaking off. The ends of the beards were really brittle.
This was a nice mature gobbler, but the beards were all jacked up. Anyone ever see anything like this, and if so, is this common?

gmil6184 · 01-31-2008, 12:50 PM

I haven't seen it much but i've heard of it before, i don't think it is super uncommon.

Bobgobble2 · 01-31-2008, 01:07 PM

I cant tell ya the %'s but I have killed a couple of these birds myself.One of em had a beard that was totally blond.from my undertanding birds with "beard rot"have a melanin difiency in the growth of there beard.I know melanin helps in protecting hair,skin,and in this casefeathersfrom external factors,birds lacking this end up having very brittle beards and consequently there beard never will reach its potential.The interesting part is thank goodness from my studies and the birds I've taken there are no other ill effects....

superstrutter · 01-31-2008, 01:46 PM

I killed a 21 pound Rio in Texas a few years ago and he had a 2 inch beard due to beard rot. It's pretty common, especially up north in the colder climates and in the Rocky Mt. region due primarily to the rough terrain. I think some beard rot is a condition caused by a nutritional defenciency or a parasite.

BuckRogers · 01-31-2008, 03:31 PM

I was stalking (not literally) a bird last year that had no visible beard and I glassed him for a LONG time. He was a big dominate tom that really liked to rough up my dekes while I was away[:@]. I probably could have gotten him as I knew where his home was but I really hoped that this year his beard would grow back... Only time will tell. This is the first time I have seen this. I did get a hen that had a 7.5 inch beard that year. What a mixed up world it is.

huntnteen · 01-31-2008, 08:03 PM

i called in my brother-in-laws first turkey last year, three of them came in and he took the biggest(they all had the same length beards) and it had a 2 1/2'' blonde bearded 23 lbs bird,

bloodcrick · 02-01-2008, 12:07 AM

I have killed one that was still long but about half of it was rotted off so to speak, i think it is fairly common.