fascinating to see an embryo develop in such a tiny egg. Unfortunately, the embryo died on the 10th day of development. After a quiet period in June and July, we had another egg on the 15th of August 2012. Because the female didn´t incubate at all, this egg had to be put in an incubator as well. After five days it was clear that the egg was fertilized, and 11 days later the first hummingbird chick finally hatched in Weltvogelpark Walsrode! Although the chick made a hole in the shell on its own, it was not able to hatch without our help and it weighed only 0.37 grams! The chick was hand reared in an artificial nest placed in a separate incubator. Initially, it only received some water, but after 24 hours, when the yolk sack was completely absorbed, we started feeding nectar and flies. The chick was fed every 20 minutes from 8.00 am to 11.00 pm and was left to rest during the night. Although the chick was begging very actively during the first two days, it looked very weak on the third morning and died a few hours later.
It took some time before we had another chance to breed these beautiful birds, but in November, one of our females started laying again. We were able to monitor the breeding behavior by placing a camera above her nest. The female laid two fertilized eggs and incubated them perfectly. On the morning of December 8th, we were very happy to find one healthy looking chick in her nest! It hatched completely on its own on the 16th day of incubation. A
10 BIRD SCENE
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