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Modern Captive Breeding – Part
IV by Peter Gill |
HAND REARING
Neo natal raptor chicks
are semiartirical and thus require an outside source to provide warmth and
nutrition (usually its parents). To successfully hand rear chicks from
hatching the three main areas that need to be addressed are: 1. Temperature
Control 2. Nutrition 3. Hygiene Temperature Control
Due to the 100% humidity level within the egg, a
freshly hatched chick will be wet at the time of hatching, and
should be left to dry in the hatcher for several hours. The chick will appear
weak and pathetic at this point, but with several hours rest it should soon
start to perk up. Raptor chicks are unable to self control their own body
temperature post hatching, so provisions have to be made via the use of a
brooder to keep the chicks warm. On visiting many breeding projects, I am regularly disillusioned |
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all their brooding systems. These same projects
have installed state of the art incubation systems with all manors
of fail safe systems, only to put their hatchlings into what can only be
described as `Heath Robinson brooders'. These range from home made still
air boxes through to a single light bulb. When one considers that a two day
old chick will die from hypothermia faster than an egg would perish due to
loss of its heat source, it should be obvious that the quality of the
brooding is at least as important as the incubator the chick was hatched in.
There are times when all propagators should stand back and look at any areas
which may be a potential `weak link' in their breeding strategy, and this
seems to be a common one. There are numerous good quality brooders
available on the market today. Over the last four years
we have used the `Animal Intensive Care Unit' (AICU) manufactured by Lyons
Electrical Company. This unit has proved to be very reliable and fulfills all
the requirements we need. Another suitable brooding method, is the K pad
system. It is |
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simply a thermostatically controlled pad,
containing warm water. A towel is placed over the pad
and the chicks are placed on the towel. Some breeders are sceptical of this
system, as most of the heat is generated from below the chick. However enough
breeders use this system exclusively to make it worth considering. Once dried, the chicks are moved from the hatcher
to the brooder which is holding a temperature of 36.5°C (98°F). At
the same time each chick is colour coded using a felt tip pen on their backs
and, or top of the head for individual recognition purposes. Each chick is
placed into its own thoroughly cleaned open topped plastic container (130 x
80 x 60mm), with several pieces of kitchen roll as a substrate. We never mix buteos or accipiters with falcons in
the same brooder. This is due to aggression from the shortwings
in the form of the `Cain and Abel' battle. Eyass shortwings will fight from
the second day of life, to establish a hierarchy within the nest and once a
chick is overcome by its aggressor, it will lie still with its head down and
the battle will cease. Falcons do not fight, so if attacked by a shortwing a
young falcon will keep lifting its head until it is severely injured or
killed. If you do keep them in the same brooder make totally sure they cannot
reach one another. The brooder temperature should be decreased
gradually. The rate of decrease will depend on the species being
brooded. As an example gyrs and Peales peregrine come off heat at a lot
faster rate than barbary or lanner falcons. There is no magic temperature
that any eyass should be kept, but their behaviour will indicate whether they
are too warm or too cold. Chicks which are too hot will lay stretched out with their legs out behind
them or on their |
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side with legs out stretched
to their side (this can be an initial cause of splayed legs). The most
obvious sign is the chick panting. The major sign of a chick being too cool
is when it is sat hunch backed and vocalising with a groaning sound. This
behaviour is generally observed just after feeding, but should cease within
fifteen minutes. A common cause of chicks failing to turn their crop over in
the expected time can be due to the brooding temperature being too cool. Nutrition
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0nce eggs successfully start
to hatch then the propagator's work really begins. Yet again
a little pre planning will greatly assist in this, the most labour
intensive area of captive breeding. Chicks hatching under parents will
require close monitoring and for those hatching in incubators where a modicum
of hand rearing is needed, a regular schedule of feeding and cleaning is
needed. The rearing methods and nutrition employed for each chick over the
next couple of months, will have a heavy bearing on its physical and
physiological qualities for the rest of its life. |
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REARING |
