Currently Hatching - Chick With Swelling on Head

[ladybrasa]

One batch of shipped eggs are hatching

The first one out this morning was a Swedish Flower Hen, and s/he looked to be crested! I know some of them can be. However a few hours later I noticed that it is not a crest but a lump or swelling. She (calling it a she cuz I really want it to be a hen!) appears totally fine, pipped and zipped fine as far as I can tell, mobility fine around the incubator, holding head up and looking around. Anyone know what this is?

I took her out just long enough to snap a couple pics:

Having paranoid thoughts of incompletely closed skull and brain exposure ...

 

[KOdin]

Her extra noggin power

 

[Sonya9]

Look up "vaulted skull in chicks". Apparently it is a fairly common trait in some breeds especially Silkies.

Exerpt from article:
"Vaulted skulls are common in silkies and in polish chickens. It started out as a mutation. People then selected it because they liked the look of it. They polish had them first. The polish were then bred into silkies to improve and create larger crest sizes. Often chickens are bred together to get new colors, traits and types. Because polish have had this trait longer than silkies, their vaulted skulls are more closed and less susceptible to injury.

A vaulted skull is a skull which has an opening at the top not unlike when a human baby is born. The soft spot on a human skull grows together and become hard. Sometimes a silkies hole will grow over but sometimes it does not. There are pictures online which shows silkie chicken skulls with this opening."

https://vjppoultry.com/2017/03/21/the-secrets-of-silkie-vaults-at-vjp-poultry-32117/

 

[ladybrasa]

Oh interesting! Yes I’ll definitely look it up, thanks!

 

[ladybrasa]

Yeah so ... sounds like incompletely closed skull and brain exposure ... it’s not good when paranoias get justified!!

So from what I gather, vaulted skull is not unusual and sometimes bred for in Silkies and Polish. Often there are no problems, but they are at greater risk for brain injury. However, I found very little about a vaulted skull in Swedish Flower Hens, other than to not breed crested to crested because of the risk of getting vaulted skull. Because it might be fatal. But I can’t tell if fatality is directly because of it or because of the increased risk of injury.

So if this chick has a vaulted skull, I still don’t know if it’s just going to die, or may find her dead later in life or neurologic because she bumped her head or got pecked on her head.