I am under the understanding that "Beard Rot" is caused by a Melanin deficiency in the bird that causes the beard to loose black color and become brittle. Is that a correct presumption?
Yep
"Disease -- Turkeys will occasionally get a melanin deficiency in their beard. Melanin is the pigment that makes the beard black and sometimes the melanin production is stopped during the growth of the beard and the beard gets a blonde or light colored streak across it. Usually the melanin production will pick back up and the rest of the beard will be black but the beard will always have that blonde streak through it. The light-colored portion of the beard is much more brittle and weaker than the black portions and the beards will often break off at that point or stop growing. Some turkeys suffering from this will have completely blonde beards."
http://wildturkeyzone.com/articles/aging3.htm
Thanks Steeler Fan
Yes you are are correct here's a picture(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170421/4c818687678e2bfb5462347aa315b32b.jpg)
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I shot one on the last day of the season 4 years ago that had beard rot bad. I thought it was a jake when I first saw it, but it displayed a full fan in strut, then made the mistake of walking right towards me. Hevi #7s don't play at 11 yards. He weighed 20.5 pounds with a full fan and 1 inch spurs, definitely not a jake.
Jim
I got this one several years ago. It's hard to see, but the red section is on the longer strands even with the short strands that already broke off
Is this beard rot? I killed him monday and could see before I shot that his beard was really thin.
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170422/e5d4b3238d44c8095f701fd3c6a5e4df.jpg)
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Worm82 - yepper. You can see the lighter coloring of the section that breaks off easier while the bird is alive.
I had the same thing last year...