A chick in the hands of a wildlife rescuer Photo: Melanie Fischer
By Melanie Fischer
They could only be saved by their loud beeping! In the Pankow district of Berlin, 30 chicks have now been found in a polystyrene box.
Most of the sweet fluffy balls were still in the eggshells, some were just pecking their way free.
Young people heard beeping noises in front of the block of flats on John-Schehr-Strasse around 11 p.m. on Sunday evening. They couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw the chicks in the white box and immediately alerted wildlife rescue.
The chicks were abandoned in Prenzlauer Berg in this box Photo: Melanie Fischer
Employee Desiree turned her car into a sauna in an attempt to warm the chicks. But for the majority, the help came too late, they were already frozen to death.
“Unfortunately, the box was perforated, the little ones hardly had a chance,” says rescuer Stevy Giese (45) from the sanctuary & wildlife rescue association for small animals from Oranienburg.
“When we got home, we immediately put the eggs in the incubator. Six chicks hatched, two died.” The four happy fluffy balls moved in with a veterinarian friend of theirs and were adopted by their mother hen Ludmilla (2).
Some of the chicks had already pecked their way out of the shell Photo: Melanie Fischer
For the animal rescuer, it’s one of the most unusual cases in years. “We see more and more roosters in boxes being parked in playgrounds or in front of animal shelters. But who releases hatching chicks?”
Since the corona pandemic, there has been a trend towards ordering hatching eggs online and hatching them in cheap incubators at home.