Hatching success for kiwis

Will Kahu from Save the Kiwi checks on Taylor before it is released at Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary. Photo / Milly Fullick

Nestled in Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary, there's a rather large kiwi burrow.

It's a bit more technological than a hole in the bottom of a tree, the purpose-built Crombie Lockwood Kiwi Burrow is a specialist facility that can care for a whopping 100 eggs and kiwis every season.

Eggs are brought here from throughout the North Island, then safely incubated, hatched and raised before being released into new homes.

The work requires trained professionals and advanced equipment, all of which puts pressure on Save the Kiwi's finances.

Save the Kiwi runs the facility and works with other organisations, conservation groups, iwi and the Department of Conservation to raise awareness and safeguard kiwi populations nationally.

During Save the Kiwi week, they're asking for help to fund their efforts by texting KIWI to 3663 to donate $3.

The kiwi remain blissfully unaware of the fundraising that is happening on their behalf.

This week has been typical of the hatching season at the Burrow, with eggs, newly hatched chicks and young kiwi demanding the time and attention of staff.

Manager Helen McCormick points out a two-day-old chick being weighed by staff member Kelsi Thompson in one of the facility's specialist rooms.

One of several new chicks at the burrow, this little one required a bit of a helping hand to fully hatch.

Some chicks take three days from making their first small hole in the egg to breaking free, but he or she - it's impossible to tell until they're much older - still hadn't made it out by day six.

Staff made the call to lend a hand, something they prefer not to do unless absolutely necessary. This is just one small way the team makes sure as many chicks as possible are raised into healthy birds that will bolster the country's population.

In the wild, predators such as stoats pose such a threat to young kiwi that only 5 per cent make it to adulthood.

With Save the Kiwi's help, that survival rate balloons to 65 per cent. Facilities like the Crombie Lockwood Kiwi Burrow are instrumental in this - protecting and rearing young kiwi until they can safely be relocated back into the wild.

Predator-proof areas, like the fenced Wairakei Golf + Sanctuary, provide a safe space for kiwi to learn how to fend for themselves, especially while they get to the crucial 1kg weight that means stoats are less of a threat.

Elsewhere at the burrow, a young kiwi named Taylor makes its first steps outside, deep within a wooded area of the Wairakei Golf grounds.

Once it is big enough, it will be released into the wild, where it will have the opportunity to interact with other kiwi, and perhaps even start a family of its own.

As it is released by staff member Will Kahu, it wastes no time in nestling into its very own wild burrow, ready to begin its new life.