#chick development

Tīwhiri-A1-2026 pictured on its hatch day (above) and at one day old (below) being weighed by Ranger Maddy. Photos |DOC The kākāpō—Aotearoa New Zealand’s charismatic, moss‑green, nocturnal parrot—has just welcomed a precious new arrival. After four long years without a single hatch, the first chick of the 2026 breeding season has made its debut, marking a moment of hope for one of the world’s…

For the accidental breeder or the person who got suckered in to doing the breeder’s job for them. This is intended to be an emergency guide. It is not comprehensive! If you plan on handfeeding routinely you need to get a copy of Parrots: Hand Feeding & Nursery Management by Howard Voren and Rick Jordan. In Australia they prefer Incubation & Handraising Parrots by Phil Digney. What does your baby…

Another week and the growth of the chicks is visible. They are larger than they used to be, as you'd expect, but unfortunately they can still fit through the gaps in the fence at the moment. We've taken to putting extra defenses around the bottom to try and keep them in, but it hasn't proven to be very effective. We may just have to wait until they get too big for the gaps.

The adult feathers are coming through nicely, and I think we're starting to see the colours and markings they will have once they're grown up - they all look so beautiful, even if they are half covered in feathers and half down. This is what my friend calls the 'ugly stage' of growing. 

The development of these feathers has given our little young'uns the ability to fly...well, flying by chicken standards. Cleaning the chickens out today, I saw a couple of the chicks do a 'flying jump'.

They also seem a little less scared of people and are slightly more willing to come a bit closer to us humans. This makes us very happy indeed . :D Other than that, they all seem very healthy and happy.