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Coots, Gallinules, and Rails 371

Gallinule chicks may respond better to hemostats with red/orange tips, likely because their parents
display red frontal shields that may be used to get chicks’ attention for feeding.

Fledglings
Older coot, gallinule, and rail chicks – those 3 weeks of age or more – usually self‐feed when food
is presented properly and there are hiding places and appropriate lighting in their enclosure.
Offering fledglings live food can inspire self‐feeding more quickly. Weight must be monitored the
first few days that a fledgling is in care to be sure it is eating and gaining weight. Wet food items
(thawed frozen food, live food) should be offered in separate, appropriately sized (for safety) shal-
low dishes from dry food items. A dish of clean water that contains aquatic plants can serve for
bathing if the bird is alert enough to easily climb in and out.
Rail parents have been known to feed their chicks for up to 3 weeks, and up to 30 days in coots/
gallinules, but there have been cases in which chicks started to eat on their own sooner. Due to this
variability, it is critical that the eating behaviors of rallids in care be monitored until self‐feeding
occurs reliably and the bird is thriving.

Supplementation
While in care, coots, gallinules, and rails must be supplemented to ensure they get the vitamins
and nutrients they would ingest in the wild. The supplementation schedule used differs in terms
of frequency and dose depending on the bird’s diet, medical issues, and housing. For birds housed
®
indoors, the dosage is Mazuri Auklet Vitamin Tablets or SeaTabs (Pacific Research Labs), ½ tab/
kg, once every or every other day; for those housed outdoors, it is every other day to every 4–7 days.
For small hatchlings, a slurry can be compounded from one Auklet tablet ground with mortar and
pestle and mixed with 1 ml suspension liquid such as OraPlus® to be delivered at 0.5 ml/kg. Calcium
carbonate should be given every or every other day orally to birds housed indoors and sprinkled on
all foods offered to them. Once a bird is living outdoors and almost grown, it can receive calcium
carbonate supplements every other day, transitioning to every 4–7 days as the chick matures. Any
chicks with evidence of abnormal bone growth, unwillingness to stand and walk, or fractures
should be supplemented with extra calcium. A calcium carbonate slurry can be made to allow the
small dosages needed for small birds by mixing 5 g calcium carbonate powder (2000 mg Ca) with
10 ml OraPlus and 10 ml tap water to create a calcium slurry of approximately 100 mg/ml. Small
pieces of 500–600 mg calcium carbonate tablets can be given orally to larger, fledgling birds. The
more calcium‐deficient foods a chick is eating (e.g. mealworms, some small‐bodied fish), the more
calcium supplementation they will need for proper bone growth. See Chapter 41 for more informa-
tion on the nutritional composition of invertebrates.

Expected Weight Gain

Chicks should steadily gain weight from the time they hatch until they are fledglings (Figure 22.6).
If a chick is not gaining weight or loses weight for more than 2 days in a row, the chick should be
carefully assessed. Lack of weight gain can result from medical issues, being outcompeted for food,
stress, abnormal light or photoperiod, or lack of cover. Daily weight monitoring is critical for
the first 2 weeks of care or until the bird has proven it is reliably self‐feeding. Once birds are