Last Friday, the 2500th kiwi chick to be born at the hatchery popped out of its egg. Weighing 344 grams, the new chick was “pretty much bang on average”, hatchery business manager Emma Bean told the Rotorua Daily Post.
“Welcoming the 2500th member into our whānau is a very proud moment for the facility, and testament to the dedication of our team in preserving the national manu of Aotearoa,” Bean said.
“We’re excited to share this wonderful news.”
Bean said the historic chick was hatched from one of three eggs recently received from the Forest Life Force Restoration Trust.
“It was down to the final three and we actually would have put our money on a different chick but this one was the winner. It was a pretty welcome surprise.”
Bean said it was too early for the chick to be DNA tested to determine gender.
On February 9, the 2500th kiwi chick to be born at the hatchery popped out of its egg weighing 344g. Photo / Mead Norton
“We’ll have to wait in the coming weeks to see if any personality traits come through.”
Bean said the chick’s sire, Norris, usually produced “robust” chicks.
“We know chicks from Norris are really quick to establish onto foods,” Bean said.
For now, each morning the hatchery’s team have found the chick snuggled up to its older flatmate in the nursery.
“He or she will stay on site for about five months and then be released back into the Maungataniwha forest [in Northland],” Bean said.
“It’s an important opportunity to raise awareness of New Zealand’s threatened species that are in rapid decline in the wild, and to learn about the important work the National Kiwi Hatchery is doing to care for and protect kiwi.”
From hatching its first egg in 1995 to establishing a 2008 trust that would become the National Kiwi Hatchery, the Rotorua facility dedicated to the conservation of Aotearoa’s iconic native bird has hatched the 2500 eggs while welcoming tourists to visit and help save kiwi from extinction.
The hatchery was based at Rainbow Springs Nature Park, which went into hibernation during the Covid-19 pandemic and struggled to recover.
In March 2022, park owner Ngāi Tahu Holdings Corporate Services announced Rainbow Springs would close permanently and the hatchery would move down the road to another established tourism attraction, the Agrodome Farm.
The Rotorua-based National Kiwi Hatchery has welcomed its 2500th chick. Photo / Mead Norton
In December the National Kiwi Hatchery reopened for tours at the Agrodome and is already alive with the sound of kiwi calls.
Through Operation Nest Egg, the hatchery works with 15 community-led, iwi-led and Department of Conservation (DoC) groups to increase brown kiwi numbers nationwide.
Maryana Garcia is a regional reporter writing for the Rotorua Daily Post and the Bay of Plenty Times. She covers local issues, health and crime.
