Posts Tagged ‘Flamingo Chicks’

Oct
28

Flamingo Chicks: Not Such a Baby Anymore

Posted by in Birds

Our Flamingo chicks are growing  rapidly.  In addition to all living together in the same pen, they are starting to eat their Flamingo Chow readily.  The adult flamingos are fed a special diet called Flamingo Breeder pellets made by Mazuri, a company that specializes in zoo food.  These pellets are specially formulated to meet the nutritional needs of the flamingos.  They also contain some of the micro-elements that help the flamingos maintain their pink coloration.

Flamingo chick now eating in the pool

 As the chicks grow, their bill takes on the “normal” crooked shape of a flamingo beak.  They also start to develop the fringe on their beaks and tongues that help them filter feed 

Close up of a flamingo chick beak

And their wing feathers start getting pink too.  They won’t get completely pink for about 5 years; but over the next several months they will go from mostly grey to mostly pink.  

A flamingo chick stretches it's wings

 Since our chicks are getting so big, it’s time for them to spend more of the day learning to be “real” flamingos. 

Flamingo chicks in the pool with the adults

So we are now taking them to the pool in the morning to eat with the adults – but do not fear, they will still be walking back to their off-exhibit home for a little while longer to be babied. 

So check the zoo’s daily schedule to see when our flamingos go on their walk because before long,  they will be all grown up.

 Written by Hannah Bailey

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Aug
19

Flamingo Chicks: Sometimes Baby Gets Sick!

Posted by in Birds

Not everything about hand raising birds is fun and games.  Sometimes the chicks can get sick – but thankfully we have 4 vets on staff that we can count on to help us out when it happens.

Chick 6 (or “Green Head” as we marked him) is a little bit of a bully.  It was one that had to be kept in a brooder alone (but still next to all the other chicks) because every time we would put them all together, 6 would chase around and bite the other ones.  Until one day about 2 weeks ago….

We weigh the chicks every morning and every evening to make sure they are growing well.  Also, we carefully monitor their hydration and food intake.  About 2 weeks ago, Chick 6 was not gaining as much weight as everyone else and the chick’s appetite seemed to decrease.  About a day after we started really watching 6, we noticed that he (or she) sneezed a lot — but was otherwise active and lively.

The next morning was a completely different story!  When the keepers came in, Chick 6 was coughing and sneezing constantly, and having a really, really hard time breathing.  We called the vets immediately.

Without delay,  Chick 6 was moved to our vet clinic.  It seemed it was pneumonia.  The vet staff placed  it in a special holding area where it could receive oxygen constantly and be nebulized 4 times a day.

The little guy in a nebulizing chamber

The chick was still having trouble breathing, so the vets put in a “air sac canula.” This is basically a tube that is put into the air sac (on the side of the body) that allows the chick to breathe easier — a little like a person getting a tracheotomy.  This helped Chick 6 a lot! He was able to breathe a lot more and not be so stressed.

After a week of treatment (both oral antibiotics, anti-fungal medication and aerosolized medication for the chick’s lung), Chick 6 was able to be move to a holding area with out the oxygen.

The chick in it's holding cage

Just like the other chicks, Chick 6 got it’s exercise by running around to keep it’s strength up.

As it got better, Chick 6 got more strength and was able to play for longer periods at a time.

On Friday, August 13, Chick 6 was returned to the department to live with the 7 other flamingo chicks.  Yay!  He still has to be kept separated from the other chicks – but now it’s just because he’s still a little bit of a bully!!

The now-healthy chick, with Dr. Lauren Howard and Dr. Maryanne Tocidlowski

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Aug
13

Flamingo “Foot”-age

Posted by in Birds

After several weeks of practice and time to grow strong, the flamingo chicks are starting their walks to the flamingo exhibit.  They will be in the exhibit each day for about an hour to make sure they get plenty of sun and exercise.  Check out the zoo’s daily update  on our webpage, on the Plan Your Day Kiosks on Zoo grounds, or on our iPhone app to find out the time that the flamingo chicks will be out and about….

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Aug
10

The Flamingo Gym

Posted by in Birds

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!

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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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