Great news spread through the Otanewainuku Kiwi Trust (OKT) camp over the weekend with the arrival of a brown kiwi chick to parents Kaha and Fetah who live in Otanewainuku forest. The chick, weighing 360gm, was hatched in the Kiwi Encounter hatchery in Rotorua on Friday, having been taken into incubation from Otanewainuku about three weeks ago.
Kiwi Trust volunteer Sheryl Petersen says the hatch is very special, particularly as Kaha is not the most diligent of dads, often abandoning his egg-minding duty mid-way through incubation.
Kaha walked off this egg at 57 days but, fortunately OTK’s smart piece of technology – the chick transmitter – was on deck to record his escapade and Trust volunteers quickly entered the forest and retrieved the egg 12 hours later in time to save it from getting too cold.
Kiwi Encounter took over the incubation and on Friday the chick was hatched – but not without another hitch. The wee chick had a leg crossed over his chest so needed human intervention to get out of the shell. The hatchery is the largest kiwi hatching facility in the world, successfully incubating and hatching brown kiwi eggs from around the North Island.
The chick will remain at Kiwi Encounter until it reaches 1000gm in weight at which point it will be transferred to a kiwi crèche near Karapiro until it is big enough to be released back into Otanewainuku Forest. The sex of the chick is not known and can only be determined by a DNA test of its feather. It is not until kiwi chicks are about a year old that their gender can be determined.
Western Bay of Plenty District Council gives practical support and funding to OKT’s programme for the long-term survival of the endangered North Island brown kiwi, including funding for the Trust’s specialised tracking equipment.
By Western Bay of Plenty District Council
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