Longstanding Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust volunteer and Stratford deputy mayor Alan Jamieson holds Fi the kiwi shortly before the chick was released into the reserve.

Fi the baby kiwi had a rough start to life.

Found dehydrated and tiny, the chick had a bit of egg shell in its eye, conjunctivitis, eyelid cysts and ticks.

Rotokare Scenic Reserve Trust site manager Fiona Gordon is grateful she decided to do a routine fence check on November 23 because the kiwi she found would have died if left any longer.

Supplied Fi the kiwi photographed just after it arrived at Massey University's Wildbase Hospital.

"I was out checking the fence for holes and signs of digging, but instead I found a little kiwi chick. This little chap was pretty early in its life, probably a couple of weeks old, and weighed just 210 grams."

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Its gender is still unknown but the chick was christened Fi in honour of its rescuer.

When she found it, the chick was curled into a ball on the platform beside the fence. It was a hot day and the baby bird had no shelter. It was tiny - just 210 grams - and dehydrated.

"The poor little thing's eyes were glued shut, it had a significant infection in its eyes."

The ailing chick was rushed into the Taranaki Vet Centre in Stratford, where vets discovered a fragment of eggshell in its eye that had probably led to the infection, she said.

It also had conjunctivitis, cysts on its eyelids and ticks, something that was unusual for a baby kiwi.

The sick bird had been transferred to Wildbase Hospital at Massey University where it spent nearly a month.

"The guys at Wildbase did a fantastic job of looking after it and it weighed in at 500 grams yesterday, and was looking healthy and bright," she said.

It was possible the bird's eyesight was permanently impaired but because kiwi have an acute sense of smell and hearing, this was unlikely to hinder it from living a normal life.

The chick was released into an area within walking distance of the reserve base so its transmitter battery can be changed when needed each month.

"We will be keeping tabs on it, although it's entirely likely it will move elsewhere when it wants to establish its own territory."

Gordon said the trust would be releasing four more kiwi into the reserve during January, as part of its Taranaki Kohanga Kiwi at Rotokare project, a partnership between the trust and the Taranaki Kiwi Trust, to improve the genetic range of the kiwi breeding in the reserve.