The Cincinnati Zoo is officially a chick magnet. The zoo recently welcomed two little blue penguin chicks and hope two more will hatch soon.
The chicks, born Dec. 28 and 31, will be reintroduced to the colony when they are about six weeks old and are eating what the adults eat. There are more than 30 birds in the colony.
"Some of the more experienced pairs do fine sitting on their eggs and caring for young chicks, but the eggs that we ended up incubating were from first-time pairs that didn't seem sure about what to do," says the zoo's senior aviculturist Cody Sowers. "That's where we come in." You can see how the zoo cares for penguins in this video.
The bird team is currently feeding the chicks a mix of herring, krill and Pedialyte five times a day. The zoo will ask for name suggestions on its Facebook page on Friday, and may end up asking for additional recommendations again soon.
"We have two eggs in the incubator that are viable and looking good," Sowers says. "There's also a chance that we could see more eggs in the next couple of weeks."
