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What causes this?

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sharris10

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Got my first bird of the year on Tuesday - hunt went just as planned. Birds flew off the roost and this one and another jake snuck over while the big boys were preoccupied on the other side of a woodlot. The beard is brown at the bottom - the second bird I have killed on this farm that has it....what causes it?

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Yep...looks like beard rot to me. A buddy of mine killed a 21 lb bird with 1'' spurs yesterday on the farm next to mine that had a 3'' beard. It looked like it was a paintbrush at one time... but the rot made it break off short about 3'' down. The end was colored just like that. :crazy:
 
in jakes the tip will be blond. that is the first growth of the beard, where melanin is deficient at that time. in mature gobblers it is an indication that the bird, at one time in his lifetime, was sick. the sickness causes a drop in melanin in his body and weakens the beard. you can tell cause there will be a horizontal blond streak running across the beard. it will break off clean looking like a pair of scissors was taken to it. it is also called beard rot. melanin is a dark pigment that gives the feathers and scales there dark color and provides strength.
 
WTM said:
in jakes the tip will be blond. that is the first growth of the beard, where melanin is deficient at that time. in mature gobblers it is an indication that the bird, at one time in his lifetime, was sick. the sickness causes a drop in melanin in his body and weakens the beard. you can tell cause there will be a horizontal blond streak running across the beard. it will break off clean looking like a pair of scissors was taken to it. it is also called beard rot. melanin is a dark pigment that gives the feathers and scales there dark color and provides strength.
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i guess i didnt remember correctly....good post WTM
 
Shoulda seen the bird at the taxidermists down here in MS...

2 yr old bird with a 6" beard and the ENTIRE beard was blonde. Absolutely gorgeous.
 
I killed one like that one year and an old timer told me that it probably froze of after one of the late snow falls we had that year. Mine was a large bird as well.
 
yep, beard rot. usually caused by stress of some sort (sick, lacking nutrients, etc.)
 

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