100th kiwi chick for season welcomed (+ video)

Leslie, the 100th kiwi chick born this season at Rainbow Springs' Kiwi Encounter.

The 100th kiwi chick for the season hatched at Rainbow Springs' Kiwi Encounter this morning.

The chick has been named Leslie, though its sex won't be known until a DNA sample taken from its feather shaft was analysed at a Massey University laboratory.

Kiwi Experience bus tour driver Jess Hitchman, who brought a group to the Kiwi Encounter to see the chick, chose the name in recognition of iconic West Coast Lake Mahinapua Hotel owner Leslie who passed away recently.

The hotel was a regular stop for Kiwi Experience tours and Leslie was loved by everyone, Ms Hitchman said.

Kiwi Encounter husbandry manager Claire Travers said Leslie came from the Coromandel region. It was a healthy 331 grams but needed a little bit of help to break out of its shell.

"The chick wasn't progressing quite as well as it should, so I helped it along by making a couple of lateral cracks in the egg shell to make the hatch process a little easier," she said.

Kiwi Encounter received eggs from around the upper North Island and incubated, hatched and nurtured the chicks until they weighed 1kg, she said. They were then released back to their natural environment.

The Encounter usually hatched around 120 eggs every season. Leslie was the 1423rd kiwi chick to hatch there.