# Is blindness genetic?



## Flapdoodle (Nov 8, 2009)

I have a flyer who wants all white pigeons. He has purchased a group of young birds from a reputable person that races whites. One of the birds would not fly off the landing board. He could not figure out what was wrong and was going to C#@&% the bird. Log story short, I have the bird and it turns out it is blind in one eye but other then that it seems perfectly healthy. 

If I breed from this bird will it pass the blindness to its offspring (provided it is not sterile or has other issues relating to inbreeding).


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## garacari (Apr 26, 2010)

Depends. The bird could have been blinded after birth due to sickness, accident, fight with another bird, etc. In that case, no. 

Otherwise - and please correct me if I am wrong - I believe blindess is a recessive gene, skipping generations. Again, I'm a dope when it comes to genetics.


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## Guest (Jun 24, 2010)

Flapdoodle said:


> I have a flyer who wants all white pigeons. He has purchased a group of young birds from a reputable person that races whites. One of the birds would not fly off the landing board. He could not figure out what was wrong and was going to C#@&% the bird. Log story short, I have the bird and it turns out it is blind in one eye but other then that it seems perfectly healthy.
> 
> If I breed from this bird will it pass the blindness to its offspring (provided it is not sterile or has other issues relating to inbreeding).


just my two cents but this really sounds like salamonella or paratyphoid to me


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## amumtaz (Jun 13, 2007)

Paratyphoid is the name given to the disease caused when pigeons are infected with the bacterium Salmonella. In other words, Paratyphoid and Salmonella are the same sickness which does not cause blindness in pigeons. The bacterium can infect the joints, leading to red hot swollen joints in the wings or legs, or alternatively inflame the membranes round the brain leading to loss of balance and head tilt. I have never seen or heard birds become blind because of salmonella.

To my knowledge, only one disease could cause blindness and that is eye cold or eye infection. It will only cause blindness however, if you don’t treat the sickness on time. Genetically, only almond color carries the blind gene, where two almond birds should not be breed together. It doesn’t mean, every baby will be blind, but there is a good chance babies of two almond parents will produce poor vision due to distorted or damaged iris and may also show bladder-eye.

I would say breed the bird safely, I don’t think it would produce any blind babies….


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## sreeshs (Aug 16, 2009)

My uncle had took in a male Lahore from a pet shop which was showing twisting of neck. When the bird recovered, it was blind on one side.


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