Page 173 - Hand rearing birds second

158 Hand-Rearing Birds

Self-feeding
At 7–10 days old, a chick should be able to chase and catch some prey (Kenow et al. 2014). Success
may be minimal, but if offered a large enough school of fish, chicks should maintain and gain
weight. Once the loon chick is sufficiently eating on its own and gaining weight, they can be
weaned off hand‐feeding.
Using the fish consumption chart (Table 9.1), caregivers can record how many fish or the mass
of the fish consumed or having died, and then replace a specific number of fish to equal a certain
size school of fish. The size and number of fish offered each hour is based on the individual, not
necessarily the age of the chick. For young fledglings, typically 10 fathead minnows are offered
each hour. The goal is to have some fish leftover, finding a balance between the bird’s consumption
and not leaving the pool fishless. Increasing the number of fish is based on how much the bird eats
daily; once a balance is met, fish are increased each week by 5–10 minnows. By 6 weeks of age,
minnow schools are between 35 and 45 based on consumption. Larger schools may be necessary
for larger pools or those in natural lake environments. It’s important for the chicks to be successful;
therefore, increasing the number of fish offered may be necessary. To help increase the success rate
of hunt and capture, fish can be injured by clipping the side fins shorter on one side and/or clip-
ping the tail (Michelle Kneeland, pers. comm.). This causes the fish to swim more erratically.
Erratic swimming creates movements attracting the loon to pursue the fish and increasing the
chance of capture. Clipping fins on a few fish each feeding is enough to help build the chick’s
success.
Chicks are fed live fish every hour up to release in order to maintain pristine water conditions for
waterproofing in a 1.8‐m square pool. Dead fish give off oils and these can compromise the chick’s
waterproofing. At each feeding, dead fish should be removed and replaced with new live fish. It is
not uncommon for a chick to catch prey and then discard it. Either the chick is satiated, can’t swal-
low the fish, or simply doesn’t like that fish, perhaps due to spines or hard scales (Barr 1996). If the
pool has a larger surface area and adequate water turnover, fish oil is less of a problem.
It is ideal that loon chicks do not associate humans with food to reduce the risk of the chick
approaching people or boats after release. Therefore, ideally add fish to the pool behind a blind or
through a PVC pipe. The PVC pipe can be lifted so the fish splash in the water to catch the eye of a
loon chick that is not eating well (Michelle Kneeland, pers. comm.). Otherwise it can remain
underwater as fish are added each feeding.

­ Expected­Weight­Gain

Birds should be weighed daily to ensure each chick is gaining weight (Figure 9.3). Typically, loon
chicks gain 100–200 g every 3 days. Once the chick’s primary flight feathers are fully grown, weight
begins to plateau. It is known that chicks may not eat as much when stressed (i.e. moved to differ-
ent pool for cleaning) and this may affect daily weights (Kenow et al. 2014).

Housing

For a debilitated chick, it may be prudent to start off in a wet‐dry or completely dry setup. Orphaned
loon chicks often have underlying illness or injuries, so it is not uncommon for death to occur
within 48 hours of admission to a wildlife rehabilitation facility. Once the chick is strong/stable