Silkies - They’re simply SPECTACULAR!

[GingerRose]

Gaaahhh!!!
I want a FRIZZLE and a SIZZLE...

 

[AngBantamLuv]

Just stopping in to say hello ☺

I've been super productive, have a few more days of intensive work. Apologies for the missed 25 pages... flipped through some pics and omggg i love chickens

Well, little Bambina has been broody.. she does come down for food and water (because shes a piggy) but i wish she'd stop already, the girls already target her, and sitting immobile is making it worse (ok girls being ELSA GRUMPY BUTT). As everyone has aged, it's just more obvious how teenie she is. Thankfully Betty is still her little friend.

Hopefully things cool off soon, evenings finally dropped 10 degrees, but these former house chickens have had enough of the heat. I'll make some modifications in time for next summer so they can cope better.

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Just stopping in to say hello ☺

I've been super productive, have a few more days of intensive work. Apologies for the missed 25 pages... flipped through some pics and omggg i love chickens

Well, little Bambina has been broody.. she does come down for food and water (because shes a piggy) but i wish she'd stop already, the girls already target her, and sitting immobile is making it worse (ok girls being ELSA GRUMPY BUTT). As everyone has aged, it's just more obvious how teenie she is. Thankfully Betty is still her little friend.

Hopefully things cool off soon, evenings finally dropped 10 degrees, but these former house chickens have had enough of the heat. I'll make some modifications in time for next summer so they can cope better.

Nice to see you on the thread!

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Has anyone focused on breeding vaulted skulls vs nonvaulted?

I know a lot of people hate them. I personally like them. So would it be best to just breed vaulted to vaulted or is it honestly just luck of the draw?

 

[LadiesAndJane]

Has anyone focused on breeding vaulted skulls vs nonvaulted?

I know a lot of people hate them. I personally like them. So would it be best to just breed vaulted to vaulted or is it honestly just luck of the draw?

Actually, it’s recommended not to breed vaulted to vaulted. There does seem to be some kind of association between vaulted skull and female gender, though it is not real clear what the genetics are behind this and of course you can get a vaulted skull chick that ends up being male.
I am actually trying to breed away from the vaulted skull due to the risk of head injury and some difficulty hatching. My birds still have nice crests despite being non vaulted. I would say about a fourth of my chicks hatch with vaulted skulls even if both parents are non-vaulted.

Here is a thread from a couple years back with some debate about it. Apparently the chicks with too large of a vault can have trouble rotating in the shell. I’ve had this happen with a few of mine. I was able to save some because I was right there when I saw them rotate after externally pipping, but lost a few that were unable to rotate because of the large vault.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/19168055

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Actually, it’s recommended not to breed vaulted to vaulted. There does seem to be some kind of association between vaulted skull and female gender, though it is not real clear what the genetics are behind this and of course you can get a vaulted skull chick that ends up being male.
I am actually trying to breed away from the vaulted skull due to the risk of head injury and some difficulty hatching. My birds still have nice crests despite being non vaulted. I would say about a fourth of my chicks hatch with vaulted skulls even if both parents are non-vaulted.

Here is a thread from a couple years back with some debate about it. Apparently the chicks with too large of a vault can have trouble rotating in the shell. I’ve had this happen with a few of mine. I was able to save some because I was right there when I saw them rotate after externally pipping, but lost a few that were unable to rotate because of the large vault.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/posts/19168055

Oh, okay, thanks!

To clarify, I meant more right not my hatch is roughly 50-50 vaulted to not vaulted. My girls have decent crests, but I think the ones that have larger crests were the ones that had little vaults and I want to keep getting those crests and not the shrimp one my male has now.

So I wasn't sure if there was a better way to breed to get higher numbers of vaulted.

 

[ForTheLoveOfSilkies]

Some of my fluffies

 

[Hinotori]

Only maybe 1/8 of mine have vaulted skulls, if that. I have bred for the biggest crests and they are almost all non-vaulted. I don't actively select for or against it.

My original partridge rooster was vaulted. He was eventually blinded by a fed up ameraucana hen pecking him in the head.

My first partridge hen had a horrible crest. No vaulted skull. She was super friendly and an awesome mom.

Those two produced this. No vaulted skull.

Actually, all of that hens offspring had huge crests so I bred from her a lot. It passed on quite well. She produced the sweetest roosters.

 

[Hinotori]

10 weeks old today Sept 27. He's starting to darken up some.

July 20. About 12 hours old. Non-vaulted skull. That's just fluff. Yes, he looks white but I have some mutation in my partridge chicks and some hatch out pale with back stripes. Usually they are male, but not always.

Aug 15

 

[JacinLarkwell]