I\'ve got a couple of questions regarding pupil size and form.
Does anyone experience pupil irregularities in their LF blacks? By irregularity, I mean the pupil is not perfectly round. This one looks almost like a triangle. Is this a genetic defect that is likely to be passed on or is this the result of disease, specifically Mareks? I read on another board that it was believed to be caused by Mareks, but I\'m not too sure. I don\'t vaccinate, but keep a closed flock and have never experienced any Marek symptoms before. My bird is about 7 months old now but this showed up much earlier. He is not the only one. I have one other that shows some slight irregularity. I do not see any gray eye. And they appear to see just fine and do not act ill. I would think if I had Mareks here that some of my older birds would have displayed some symptoms over the last few years.
Also, when working on the eyes, just how large should the pupils be? My splash chickens seem to have the best bay color and small pupils. The blues seem to be somewhere in between. The blacks seem to be larger on pupil size and sometimes the eye color just seems a bit more yellow than bay. Is it the females that determine size and color in the eyes or either? I\'m not well read in genetics, and trying to make good choices.
The above cockeral I\'m talking about looks ok in eye color and in all other aspects. I have two other black cockerals I am planning on keeping and want to have a third from different parentage, just in case something shows up later like gold in the hackles. So I\'m trying to decide on whether to keep him or his brother who has wing and tail issues. Or I could go with one other cockeral who looks good in eyes and other aspects but small in size and carries his tail low.
Any ideas or advice? Would be much appreciated.
Merry Christmas, btw.
