Vaulted skulls

[gootziecat]

May I assume, looking at the vaulted skull pictures, you can feel these easily with your finger? What would you note by feeling if you don't have a vaulted skull? I don't have a Silkie, so I can only guess. If I do get a Silkie, I want to be sure I can avoid this before purchase.

Thanks.

 

[flgardengirl]

Thank you for the information. This is fascinating. So is the vaulted skull caused by the fontanelles of the skull not coming together? For example, in humans there are two cranial fontanelles (soft spots where the bones are separated a bit in infants to allow the head to be passed through the birthing canal. These will normally close up by 12 -18 mos. after birth. They also allow for the child's brain to grow.) Or do chickens even have fontanelles? Or are the silkies just are missing the bones on top of thier heads totally?

 

[Vcomb]

from studying the skulls of Polish I have found that they usually have a fully or near fully enclosed skull vault, rather than a partially open one like the silkie. It stands to reason that this is due to this trait being in the Polish for much longer. The skull vault of a Polish gives 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.

 

[joe17]

Vaulted skulls isnt something that should be avoided as if it were a disease. USUALLY better quality silkies have this trait..... I know many people say that vaulted skulls make the crest bigger. I think it does make it a little more poofy. I am not saying that if a silkie does not have a vaulted skull, it will not have a vaulted skull. I dont find that they are more prone to injury either. I find that the two silkies that have the vaulted skulls are more healthy. Doesnt seem like they are any more fragile.....

 

[ninejw]

I am going to feel all my silkies heads now to see if its vaulted.

The type of canaries I raise can get this to I think b/c they are crested and usually make the better crested bird. It's bad though if they hit their heads i think

 

[iluvmychicks]

Vaulted skulls in silkies may be larger however, don't always equal a correct shaped crest which should be medium, globular and upright. I've seen many vaulted skull silkies with poorly shaped crests. Non-vaulted silkies can have a beautiful correct shaped crest just like the standard calls for. I raise both vaulted and non-vaulted silkies and put no signifigance on wether they are vaulted or not, the goal is shape not size, over sized monster crests really do silkies no good.

Injury due to a vaulted skull can happen if it's hit directly on the head such as a peck or a some other source of trama.

 

[robin416]

Quote:
You all can go off and believe willy nilly about vaulted versus non vaulted but if you want the facts you are now reading them in iluvmychicks post.

As to trauma, I still have my girl who was nailed by a keet several years ago. She still has problems from time to time. So not more injury prone? Nothing like experience to tell you different.

The problem is someone says something like vaulted is preferred over non and everyone jumps on that bandwagon without knowing the facts. Folks who have been raising Silkies for years know better.

 

[joe17]

I guess it just depends on your experiences with the differences between vaulted and non vaulted skulled silkies. I am sure there are bad non vaulted skull silkie crests and bad vaulted skull silkie crests. I have another question and I am not asking this to be a smart alec. How would you know that a silkie is more prone to injury if it has a vaulted skull?? What problems would occur? Have you ever had a silkie that got hit in the head and just drop dead?

 

[robin416]

More of the brain is exposed with the vaulted skull, thus making it an easier target. It is entirely possible to have one suffer a brain injury and die instantly just like it can happen with humans. If I had not had veterinary support for my girl she probably would not still be alive five years later.

I have both in my coop. In the next few days I'll see if I can get good pics of their heads. I'll ask who can tell which bird has the vaulted skull. These will just be pics of the bird's head, not with the feathers pulled back.