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 2009 Nine Humboldt Penguin chicks... This season the keeper staff have been very busy at the Park hand rearing 9 penguin chicks in the incubation house. Some of the adult breeding pairs do not make very good parents and tend to squash their chicks or not feed them properly. When the chicks hatch they weigh around 80 - 90 grams and are fed three times a day on liquidised sprats with vitamins and calcium. The chicks are weighed in the morning and are then fed 10% of their body weight. When they weigh over 500 grams they are weaned off of the mix and fed tiny pieces of sprat and whitebait. At three months of age when they have lost all of the downy feathers and grown their juvenile waterproof feathers they can go into the adult penguin pool for their first swim. A BARROW LOAD OF TROUBLE As the baby penguins get bigger they are transported via a wheelbarrow from the incubation room to their nursery area during the day. |
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