Posts Tagged ‘Baby Flamingos’

Aug
04

Baby Flamingo Gruel a.k.a Fishy Goodness!

Posted by in Birds

As mentioned in our last post about the Houston Zoo’s baby Flamingos, here is the recipe for the Flamingo Food.  And just below, a fantastic little video of how we make it that’s too entertaining not to watch!

 Flamingo Hand Rearing Formula (Diet)

 720g Infant rice cereal flakes (soaked in water)
720g Shrimp
720g Smelt/Capelin (whole/thawed) – heads/tails/fins removed
720g Hard-boiled egg yolks
1 cup Vionate
1 cc Thiamin-Vitamin E paste
~12 cups water 
 

1.) Soak Rice cereal in water (according to directions) – set- aside 720 g of soaked rice cereal

2.) Peel shrimp and dice, blend well with ~1-2 cups of water

3.) Take heads, fins, and tails off of the fish, dice, blend well with ~1-2 cups of water

4) Blend egg yolks, vionate, and thiamin with ~1-2 cup of water

5.) Mix all ingredients together and blend well

6.) Strain formula and blend remainder, strain again.

7.) Divide up into smaller batches to freeze. Fresh made formula will keep in the fridge for 24 – 48 hours

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Aug
02

Growing Up Flamingo: Swimming and Feeding

Posted by in Birds

Flamingos grow-up quickly… sort of… they will need us to help feed them for at least the next 90 days – so they will still be babies in that sense.  However, in just a span of 3 months they will grow from being about 10 inches high to being over 3 feet tall.  Growing this quickly means that we have to keep a close eye on the development of the flamingo’s legs. Flong-legged birds, it is very important that the chicks do not outgrow their leg strength.

Flamingos hatch out with very dense white/gray down.  This down helps them keep warm and dry.  It also makes them very buoyant.  When chicks are just 2 – 3 days old, the parents will often taken them for their first swim.  Swimming is great exercise for baby flamingos, as it helps their legs develop properly. To mimic this, we start swimming the flamingo chicks when they are just a couple of days old.

The Fuzzy Bunch takes their first swim!

Swimming is just one form of exercise that the flamingo chicks receive.  Several times a day they are placed in “play-pens” with all the other chicks. This allows them to start interacting with others and also show off their ability to bathe themselves (a behavior that they start almost from the time they hatch).

Each flamingo chick has its own distinct personality. Some are very sweet, others like to bite.  This distinction can be seen when they interact with each other. Watch this:

One of the other ways we definitely notice the chick’s personality is when we’re feeding them. Some of the chicks will sit quietly and eat, others like to run around the table.  Some don’t mind if the formula is warm, others want the formula to be exactly 104.6º or they throw food every where. When you’re feeding a formula made of pureed fish and shrimp, having the formula spit back out on you it is not necessarily a pleasant experience. 

A wee bite of the hand that feeds.

This little one needs a napkin.

Now here's how you eat politely!

We’ll share this delictable recipe in the next post, for those among you who are conniseurs… and show a delightful demonstration of just how it’s made, so please stop back!

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Jul
23

A Flamingo Chick’s First Day at the Houston Zoo

Posted by in Birds

5 AM on July 2: The first keeper to arrive in the department checked the hatcher. It was a special day, because they found our first hatched flamingo!!

July 2, 5 AM: The first flamingo chick hatches

Flamingo chicks hatch out covered with very thick white or grey down (they are the softest chicks we have ever had).  Their legs are pinkish and they have completely straight beaks.  They look so very unlike adult flamingos that the first time you see one in person it is a little shocking.

The first two flamingo chicks. As you can see, they don't look like you'd expect.

After the chick dry off from hatching, we check their umbilicus site (basically a bird’s belly button) and make sure it is clean.  We also weigh the chicks.  The first chick weighed about 85 grams or 3 ounces – this is about half the weight of an I-phone.

The chick's belly button. Look at those little feet!!

For the first 24 hours of a baby flamingo’s life, it gets nutrition from its yolk sac (the yolk part of the egg is absorbed into the digestive system).  Just to make sure the chick stays well hydrated while it continues to absorb its yolk, we provide the chick some warm fluids about 8-10 hours after it hatches.  Then it goes back into the brooder box until its first feeding the following morning.

The chick getting warm fluids about 8-10 hours after hatching

When the chick has absorbed its yolk fully, we begin to feed it a diluted formula.  This formula is specially made for flamingos out of shrimp, fish, baby cereal, egg yolks and vitamins.  The formula smells awful, but is very good for the growing chicks. So finally, about 12 – 24 hours after the chick hatches, we give them their first taste of that food.

The little one after it's first feeding.

Please come back to read and see what’s next in the life of our flamingo chicks!

Editors note: Please let us know what you think of these little beauties in the comment section. And please share their story on your Facebook and Twitter accounts. We’ve made it easy for you to do; simply click their links just below!

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