WHOOPING CRANE CHICK: DAY 12 |
These large pens, above, house whooper adults. The building is the crane's feed shed, and acts as a shelter if they need it. The pens are covered with nylon netting to prevent the birds from flying out. The tall lights help duplicate the daylight hours of northern Canada where the wild flock breeds. This helps us stimulate the birds to lay more eggs than they would in the wild. Parent-reared chicks are raised by pairs in these pens.
|
Tux is a hand-reared, or costume- reared, chick. This means that he's been raised by humans, while being imprinted on whoopers. Another rearing technique used at Patuxent is parent-rearing. A parent-reared chick is raised by whooper adults in a pen, in a situation similar to the wild. In this picture, you can see a female whooper approaching a food bowl and water jug. Her chick stands near the nest. In the bowl is a combination of crane chick diet and mealworms. The female will feed the mealworms to the chick from the bowl, and soon he'll learn to feed himself, consuming the crumbles and getting a balanced diet. The parents will also teach the chick to drink from the water jug. They will supplement the chick's diet with live food they catch in the pen--insects of all kinds, and small mammals like voles and mice. Parent-reared chicks get a lot of exercise following the parents, and when grown, they are wilder than their hand-reared siblings. Both parent- reared and hand-reared chicks have been released in Florida.
Check our site tomorrow! |
Cool Facts:
See this page for more cool facts each day. |
Click here to ask questions about our chick or Patuxent's crane program. |
Hatch Day (Click on numbered links to view other egg (negative numbers) and chick days).
To check on updates after day 14, go to whooper's
home.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |