Clucky bantam saves weka chicks
WITH FOREST and Bird’s weka captive breeding programme well underway, breeding has begun at members’ aviaries with at least one unexpected result. King Country breeder June Lamont received two weka who weren’t keen on the idea of parenthood. They ate their first two eggs and abandoned the second clutch. However, June saved the day by her quick thinking the third time round when it looked as if that batch were also at risk. She
whisked the eggs away from the weka and placed them under a clucky bantam hen. The chicks hatched but it wasn’t all plain sailing. Although bantams are exemplary mothers, they expect their chicks to peck from the ground, whereas weka chicks take food from their parents’ beaks. June had to help feed the young weka with grubs and maggots until they learnt to take food from the ground.
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Forest and Bird, Issue 265, 1 August 1992, Page 9
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147Clucky bantam saves weka chicks Forest and Bird, Issue 265, 1 August 1992, Page 9
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