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1 week old kea in a brooder
5 week old kea chick sleeping in his food plate
appropriate amount each day and hitting developmental milestones. The keas are initially fed every three hours, six times per day. That makes for a long day for the bird keepers! When the chicks start to become very mobile and curious with their surroundings, solid food is offered. Whether they play in it, walk in it, or sleep in it, it’s a good experience for them to have access to solids. The bird staff spends a lot of time hand feeding different food items in different forms until chicks begin to show interest. Overall, the best method to wean chicks is to have an adult kea around to show them how a real kea does it. Once the kea are fully feathered and starting to self-feed, we begin daily field trips to the kea exhibit and holding areas. This gives the chicks an opportunity to adapt to a new environment, explore, exercise, and learn how to behave around adult keas. As the chicks become more comfortable in this new environment, they can stay out longer. The length of the trips and the need for supervision from keepers all depends on how the kea are adapting. Overall, it takes around 4-5 months to hand raise a kea and then fully integrate it into the flock. This is on par with a kea chick that fledges around four months of age in the wild. Juvenile kea have a yellow cere that makes them distinct from adults. Raising kea takes a lot of time and effort from the bird staff, but the reward is great. The Cincinnati
Zoo is the only AZA zoo in North America to hatch out and raise kea in the last five years. What an accomplishment! Next time you are
at the Cincinnati Zoo, stop by the free flight aviary next to Wings of the World and see if you can spot one of our 10 juveniles, all grown up.
Juvenile kea have a yellow cere that makes them distinct from adults.
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