DUNFERMLINE'S Peacocks in Pittencrieff Park volunteers have saved a peachick after it "failed to progress" during hatching.
Carlyn Cane, who helps look after the iconic birds, told the Press how they had to undertake a risky assisted hatch as they knew the chick "would not survive long" without a little help.
She said: "Our beautiful Zoe is now a mum of four beautiful chicks. Two were born in the outside roost on Thursday, August 8 and two were born on Friday, August 9, in our nursery.
"When Suzi and I were checking on Zoe on Friday evening we became aware that one of the eggs had externally pipped but was failing to progress. We had initially thought the chick had already passed as the egg was cold and had no movement.
"However, as we went to take it away, it cheeped, and Suzi nearly dropped it! We removed some of the shell and put it back under Zoe but we realised a while later that the chick was too tired and would not survive long if it wasn’t helped.
"Assist hatching is not something we undertake lightly, and we have never had success in the past. But we were determined to give the little one a shot and proceeded with care to remove the shell."
Despite having no previous success with the procedure, they were delighted that their efforts paid off and the chick began to improve.
She continued: "We initially gave the baby some oxygen and put it under a heat lamp and were astounded when it was trying to stand an hour later. The decision was taken that Suzi would distract Zoe whilst I placed the baby underneath her and we prayed it would survive the night and that Zoe would accept it.
"We put the remaining egg under her as well and when I checked at 7 am the following morning, we were amazed and delighted that as well, the baby survived.
"The fourth egg had hatched, and she had four beautiful babies."
Adding to the volunteer's delight is that the mother peahen, Zoe, tragically lost a chick in June after it was born with an abscess in it's abdomen and had to be euthanised.
They are over the moon that she has welcomed four new babies.
Carlyn added: "Following the death of Uno at 22 days old back in June, Zoe cried for the first night and then took to wandering alone.
"We didn’t expect her to lay a second clutch of eggs, but she was determined that she wanted babies, and we are all so very proud of her."
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