The first egg came to Rainbow Springs from the Tongariro Forest Kiwi Sanctuary in November 1995.
The egg hatched on 2nd January 1996 and was named Te Aukaha. The chick was released on 20th January 1997.
About 95 percent of newly hatched chicks do no survive in the wild due to attacks from predators, which is why the work carried out by Operation Nest Egg is crucial.
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| Carole Harvey with new kiwi chick. Source: Rotorua Daily Post, Friday 14 December 2001, p. 3. Photographer: Tracey Scott |
Hatching an egg
Firstly it is important to remove the egg at the right time. If the egg is collected too soon it may not hatch. Eggs should be at least 25 days old. If the egg is less than 10 days old, it has only a 1 percent chance of hatching. If the egg is between 10 and 20 days old the chance of a successful hatching is 20 percent. If the the egg is 30 days old, success is 75 percent, and by 70 days the chance of hatching is 90 percent.
The issue though is that if the egg is left too late predators or environment factors, such as flooding may have got the egg, which is why timing is so important.
Once collected the eggs are artificially incubated and once hatched the chicks are hand-raised. The chick spend approximately 3 weeks indoors in a brooder box before being placed in an outdoor enclosure that resembles a forest environment. At this point the kiwi will begin to learn to look after themselves.
Kiwis were usually returned to the wild after 6 to 10 months when they weighed around 1.2 kg. Once a chick reaches 1 kg they are usually large enough to defend themselves against predators.
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| Predator - a stoat on display at Rotorua Library, September 2019 |
A success story
Last year the 1800th kiwi chick hatched at Rainbow Springs was born on October 6th. There have been many success stories over the years.
In 2004, Kiwi Encounter opened at Rainbow Springs, which was an extension of the Operation Nest Egg Programme. Today the National Kiwi Hatchery operates at Rainbow Springs, it is the largest kiwi hatching facility in New Zealand.
Click here to learn more about the National Kiwi Hatchery located at Rainbow Springs.
To learn more about the Operation Nest Egg programme visit the Kiwis for Kiwi website.
This post was written by Graeme. Thanks to National Kiwi Hatchery, Kiwis for kiwi (The Kiwi Trust), and the Rotorua Daily Post.
