Silkies For Sale
The Secrets of Silkie Vaults at VJP Poultry- 3/21/17
If you have ever wondered what you call that extra bump at the top of a silkie chicken’s head, it is called a Vaulted Skull.. They are very easy to see in newborn silkie chicks but become less noticeable as the chick grows up. Not all silkies have them. About half of my chicks hatch with noticeable vaults. They make the chick appear very cute and that is one reason they are very popular with people purchasing silkies.
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.
Because of having a vault, a part of the silkies brain is therefore unprotected. A vaulted skull will just have skin and down covering the opening of the skull. Since there is an opening in the silkies skull, it can allow a portion of the brain to protrude through the opening. This is what causes the look of the bump on top of their heads. This can cause the chicks to be quite delicate. Once they are a month old, the bones in the vaulted area usually grow thicker and closer together.
A vault on a silkie looks like the crest has a rubber band around it. The skull vault gives more stability to the crest as as well as shape. Birds with large crests often have crests that flop over to one side or the other. Something about the fact that the skull is open stimulates feathers to grow that way which can look very attractive. Silkies born with vaults are more apt to have larger crests as adults and are said to win more poultry shows.
Silkie chicks with or without vaults can have nice top knots. It all depends on the quality of the line. The standard states that a silkie’s crest should be nice and round and even in shape. I like to think of it looking like a cotton ball or powder puff on top of the head.
Extremely vaulted heads should be moved to a separate brooder for added protection. They can be injured if something hits them on top of the head or if they run into something. The chicks with the huge vaults are usually the ones more likely to get stuck in the shells. They have a hard time pipping since they can’t move rotate in the shell very well. They are the ones more likely to need help hatching out.
People wonder if it is worth it to purchase a silkie with a large vault. Understand that you are taking a risk. Some people chose silkie chicks that do not display a vault for that very reason. Vault or not, all silkie chicks will develop nice crests. It is difficult to tell for sure which adult birds were born with vaults if you didn’t keep records. Since vaults are here to stay in most lines it is important to understand how you can protect your bird.
For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.
Victoria J. Peterson
Silkies For Sale – 3/17/17
How We Incubate Our Eggs at VJP Poultry – 3/14/17
In a previous blog we discussed how to improve the hatchability of an egg before it begins to incubate. In this second part, we will discuss how to improve your chances of having the egg hatch after it arrives in the incubator.
Your stored eggs should have been resting in a cool, dry spot. I actually tip the egg carton in which I am storing the eggs each day . I remove the eggs from the cool area about 6 hours before I place them in the incubator so that they can gradually warm up to room temperature. If you put cool eggs into a warm incubator, the eggs will sweat and condense water.
Your incubator should have been turned on 24 hours prior to your putting eggs in it. I have thermometers to test the temperature before and later after I put the eggs in. Still air incubators are set a a slightly higher temp than circulated air incubators. I have circulated air and I keep the temp at 99.5 degrees. Check the temp at different spots in the incubator. You may find temperature differences at the corners and sides and also in the middle. I keep water in the troughs at the bottom of the incubator. Sometimes I will weigh and record the weight of each egg in grams using a scale. I then weigh the eggs again at 7 days, 14 days and 18 days. If your humidity is correct you should note a drop of around 2 grams at each weighing. If they are not losing enough weight then your humidity is too high. If they are losing too much weight, then you will need to increase the humidity in your incubator.
Try to fill the entire incubator with eggs. The heat will be more evenly distributed that way. Make sure that the automatic turners are working and moving. If you are self turning the eggs, I set a timer on my phone to remind myself to turn the eggs every four hours.
I candle my eggs at day 7 and remove all of the eggs that don’t show veining or that have a single blood ring around the middle of the egg. These eggs will not hatch. I use a small, strong LED flashlight to candle.
I use one incubator for incubating the first 17 days and another as a hatcher for days 18-21. When I switch to the hatcher, I mark where the air cell is and make an X where the air cell dips the lowest in the egg. When I put them on their sides, I make sure that the X is showing on top of the egg. That is where the chick will probably make its external pip. I make sure that the eggs are spaced out and not touching if I can help it. I like the fat end facing me so that I can see pipping progress easier. I also like to leave a space where I can add water when I need to without disturbing the eggs. They need two days on their sides so that they can get into position for pipping and zipping.
I use Brinsea octagons for hatching. Brinsea is no longer making that model. Their new Brinsea incubator is the Ovation 28 Eco. I keep track of what my fertility rate is and what my hatching rate is. I also open up any unhatched eggs to see what went wrong and try to improve next time.
I hope these suggestions were useful to you. What works for one person may not work for another. The climate you live in will also effect the humidity and the ability for your eggs to hatch. Good luck on all your future hatches from VJP Poultry!
For tips and tricks for raising outstanding silkies check out our Chicken Learning Center at VJPPoultry.com . VJP Poultry is an NPIP and state inspected hatchery located 30 miles north of St. Paul. We hatch out silkies all year long so we always have stock available. Like us on Facebook to get weekly updates on what we currently have for sale.
Victoria J. Peterson
VJP Poultry 