Exercise for 30 minutes a day makes you grow big and strong.
Currently, it’s recommended that for a healthy lifestyle everyone should get at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. This is not only true for people, but it is also true for our growing flamingos.
Since flamingos have such long legs and grow so very quickly, it is easy for them to outgrow the strength of their legs. They have to be monitored each day to make sure they’re gaining enough weight, but not so much that it could possibly cause too much strain on those spindly gams.
2-day-old chick
34-day-old chick
Above you can see just how dramatic their growth is. As they do, we provide them with that much more space to move around. Though the chicks may start in small plastic brooders, they soon take up residence in outside pens where there’s plenty of space to flourish. But even though they are in a larger area, we still have them get additional exercise in 2 main ways: swimming and walking.
The spacious pens mean room to grow
To help keep up their strength, they are set out to play several times a day in a small swimming pool. This allows them to bathe, eat, and socialize together.
We also have them walk around the off-exhibit area to develop their coordination and make their legs strong. They have learned to follow us and we use this to get them to run and play!
The next step to making sure they get enough exercise is taking them for longer walks – like out to the Flamingo Exhibit to swim in the large pool, and also to be introduced to the adult flamingos.
We can’t wait to have you see it, so stay tuned for the next post!
