National Kiwi Hatchery

The National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa incubates kiwi eggs and hatches kiwi chicks to save New Zealand's national bird. Kiwi eggs get eaten by predators in the wild. Out of every 100 kiwi eggs laid in burrows in the forest, only five kiwi chicks will make it to adulthood. Kiwi eggs hatched in the safety of the National Kiwi Hatchery have a 98% survival rate. The National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa plays a vital role in saving kiwi.

It is a hugely complicated process finding and transporting kiwi eggs, incubating and hatching the baby chicks, rearing and feeding them until the chicks are stoat proof and then releasing them back into the forest as strong healthy adult kiwi. This process takes up to eight months at the Hatchery.

Hatching the kiwi eggs

The National Kiwi Hatchery Aotearoa works with conservation groups who find and collect kiwi eggs from 15 different forests and brings the eggs to their facility in Rotorua. The team of experts incubate the eggs and hatch kiwi chicks! They have hatched over 1800 kiwi eggs since they began.

The team of kiwi specialists at the Hatchery are global experts in hatching kiwi chicks. They hatch 130 kiwi chicks each year - two-thirds of all chicks incubated and hatched in New Zealand. Like us, they see each chick as a taonga (treasure). Every chick hatched is vitally important in the battle for the survival of the species

The Tour

The National Kiwi Hatchery is located within the Agrodome Farm at 141 Western Road in Ngongotaha, Rotorua.

Join a tour and you'll get to see where kiwi eggs are incubated, the hatching process and maybe even newly hatched kiwi chicks. Every Kiwi Hatchery tour booked is a 100% donation to the kiwi hatching programme... and you'll get to see how they're helping kiwi at the largest and most successful kiwi hatchery in the world.

The National Kiwi Hatchery is a cashless site – EFTPOS/Credit Card facilities are available.

The Hatchery is open 7 days, from 8:30am – until 2pm, with tours every hour on the hour starting from 9am. The last tour of the day is at 1pm.

Fast Facts:

• 45-minute guided tour of the Kiwi Hatchery where eggs are incubated and chicks raised, kiwi nocturnal enclosure
• Opening hours are 8.30am to 2pm
• Bookings required - we'll contact you to book your preferred time and date
• After making your booking online, you will receive a confirmation booking voucher which can be handed to, or shown from your digital device to the reception desk at the attraction or activity