“We would normally be expecting an egg or a chick, very seldom do we receive one in the last stages of hatching,” she said.
Joker weighed 228g this week but is expected to lose some weight while absorbing its yolk. The chick will remain at the creche until it reaches 1kg, when it will be returned to the Kaweka Forest.
“This is a safe weight for it to be released as it has more chance of fighting off predators. This will take approximately 3.5 months to reach the target weight,” Wilkinson says.
Joker will stay at the creche until reaching one kilogram, then return to Kaweka Forest. Photo / Save the Kiwi
While at the creche, Joker will be fed a mix of artificial and wild foods, weighed weekly, and given full health checks, she said.
“We will take stool samples regularly to monitor for parasites, and the chick will be dosed accordingly. It will go into quarantine two weeks before release … Feathers will be taken from Joker to determine its gender, [and] it will be microchipped.”
Since opening in 2020, the Napier Kiwi Creche has released 251 kiwi into the Eastern District and can rear up to 58 chicks each season.
“The Napier creche is vital in the recovery of eastern brown kiwi. Eastern brown kiwi recovery is being managed through large-scale predator control, Operation Nest egg and habitat protection,” Wilkinson said.
A Save the Kiwi spokeswoman said the hatching comes as Save the Kiwi Week gets under way. The organisation is currently fundraising for 10 new trail cameras to monitor kiwi behaviour and translocations across the country.