Flamingos in the pink at zoo

The flock of flamingos at Johannesburg Zoo is growing swiftly. This year, another 10 birds joined the family. Two of them are being hand-reared.
THE flamingo family at the zoo is growing. Ten new members joined the flock this year, of which two are being hand-reared.

Feeding a flamingo chickFeeding a flamingo chickThe first chick hatched on 20 October. The egg had rolled off the nest and had been collected by the zoo’s Elaine Bratt. It was put in an incubator on 22 September. The chick was named Nu, and was the first flamingo to hatch in 2011.

Another egg also rolled off the nest and Nu was joined by Kuba on 8 November.

Nu and Kuba are being kept in The Brooder Room, the zoo’s bird rearing facility, and are being cared for around the clock, just like their mothers would do. However, each has its own tiny room where they get juicy titbits of sardine, shrimp, boiled egg and maize meal. The little birds also get calcium and multivitamins.

Rearing the chicks is no easy task. They have to be carefully monitored and incubated for 28 to 30 days under strict conditions of 37.5°C and 75 percent humidity to grow.

Once they are stronger and are big enough to take care of themselves, the two chicks will be introduced to each other. After three or four months, they will be placed in the adult enclosure. This acclimatisation will be gradual, since flamingos do not easily accept newcomers into a flock.

Two flamingo chicks are being hand-rearedTwo flamingo chicks are being hand-reared“Nu and Kuba will initially occupy a separate pen adjacent to the adult camp, spending a few hours a day with the others. Eventually they will fend for themselves and will be left to find a position with the others. In this instance, integration will be easier for Nu and Kuba because they have each other for company,” explains Candice Segal, the zoo’s marketing assistant.

Since 11 November, more chicks have hatched successfully and are being cared for by their parents in the flamingo enclosure, according to Segal.

Flamingos generally start laying eggs around September and October after months of preparation for their new chicks.

In the zoo, weeks before breeding season starts, keepers put a clay-like substrate in their enclosure that the birds use to build nests. “Initially, the clay is kept wet once a week to ensure the nests stay moist and keep their shape,” says Segal.

Occasionally the hen lays an egg on the grass, or an egg rolls off the nest. The zoo keepers collect and incubate those eggs abandoned by their parents for 28 to 30 days, she says, in the hope that they will hatch and the chicks survive, as happened with Nu and Kuba.