vaulted skulls

[phasianidae]

I read about some silkies with them, what does it mean? is it harmful?

 

[Ms.FuzzyButts]

It is just a part of the brain that isn't protected by the skull.. It isn't necessarily harmful. But they can be injured if something thwacks them hard or if they run into something really hard. Most of my silkies have them and it has never been an issue in the 2 years I have raised them.

 

[phasianidae]

Ms.FuzzyButts :

It is just a part of the brain that isn't protected by the skull.. It isn't necessarily harmful. But they can be injured if something thwacks them hard or if they run into something really hard. Most of my silkies have them and it has never been an issue in the 2 years I have raised them.

how can you tell them apart from non vaulted skulled ones?​

 

[feather leg farms]

You can definetly tell valuted to non-vaulted....I'll show you. Vaulted looks like a rubber band has been put around their head.

NON-VAULTED

VAULTED(2nd pic not at great)

 

[phasianidae]

Quote:
ok, thanks, I bought 15 silkies from welp and i had this wierd one that looked just like the one in the second pic and then i heard about vaulted skulls, know i know what it is. Question, if i breed the vaulted skulled hen to a non vaulted skulled rooster, what will i get?

 

[Chris09]

Vaulted Skulls are common in Silkies and in Polish, Silkie with skulls vaults are more open with less protection to the brain where as with a Polish skull vaults is fully or near fully enclosed skull vault. It stands to reason that this is due to this trait being in the Polish for much longer than other breeds that have a more "open" vault.
The skull vault (as in a Polish) gives more stability to the crest as well as shape, otherwise birds with large crests often have crests that flop over to one side or the other.

A - Is a Vaulted Skull.
B - Is a Non-vaulted Skull

Chris

 

[feather leg farms]

There really isn't an answer, probably 50% Vaulted-50% non vaulted.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Quote:
Actually, I'm pretty sure that the majority of Polish skulls have no bony covering either. Certainly none of mine do.

Crests seem to be closely associated with vaulting - meaning the defect of an open skull. Something about the fact that the skull is open stimulates the feathers to grow that way. If you look at the opening in the skull of a good Spitzhauben, it just has a little slit in the skull where the crest will grow. The round crest of a Polish is based on a big round vault. A small vault in a Polish chick leads to a tiny crest. The crested ducks have an opening in the backs of their skulls where their crests grow. As far as I know the silkies are the only breed that can have anything close to a crest without the skull opening, and theirs is more of a result of long feathers everywhere on the body and not so much because of particularly long feathers on the head.

 

[Chris09]

All of mine are in-closed or nearly in-closed and I believe that Vcomb on here says the same thing about there Polish.

Chris

 

[phasianidae]

So for quality silkies, should i breed for vaulted skulls or not?