Perky little Piwi, the miracle Kiwi

Orana Wildlife Park staff were given specialist advice by phone to help free the struggling little kiwi. Photo / Supplied

A wildlife park is celebrating the arrival of one of the smallest kiwi born in captivity, but the tiny bird is not out of the woods yet.

The hatching this month of the chick affectionately nicknamed Piwi is the first successful birth at Christchurch's Orana Wildlife Park in nine years.

While the little kiwi appears healthy and perky, it remains on the park's critical care list.

Park staff with no experience of a kiwi hatching had to get specialist advice over a speaker phone as they carefully removed layers of shell and membrane to help free the struggling chick.

"We experienced problems throughout the incubation and hatching process and feared for the chick's survival," said the head keeper of native fauna, Tara Atkinson.

"We considered it a miracle egg as at one stage we thought it had died."

Park staff said the chick had lost 25 per cent of its body weight and could not afford to lose any more - it now weighs around 170 grams.

Chicks normally lose weight for about 10 days before putting it on. Keepers are feeding Piwi twice a day and the rate of weight loss is decreasing.

The tiny chick was born with curled feet and staff had to apply splints to help to straighten them.

The splints have helped the chick's mobility and it motors around on its new legs.