SANCOOB Chick Rearing Internship 2019

SANCCOB’s Chick Rearing Internship programme has been developed to equip candidates with chick husbandry skills and egg management skills for a career in conservation, especially for seabird chick rearing or captive breeding. The Chick Rearing internship is not as physically demanding as the other seabird internship programmes at SANCCOB, however, successful candidates need to be focused, self-motivated, compassionate, and highly observant. Be aware that the working environment is quiet and solitary in nature.

Skills observed, assisted with, and learned during the internship:

• Maintaining a high level of hygiene and cleanliness within the Chick Rearing Unit
• Weighing of chicks and calculating feeds based on weight
• Calculating and updating medication amounts for individual birds under supervision of the Veterinarian
• Record keeping for individual birds
• Handling and feeding African penguin chicks (all ages)
• Admitting and monitoring of eggs during incubation and hatching (weighing, candling, measuring and egg buddy)
• Working independently as well as part of a team
• Assisting in basic training of other interns
• Identifying behaviour in chicks to determine health status
• Maintaining adequate temperature control in the Chick Rearing Unit

Expectation of interns from SANCCOB:

• Committed individual and willingness to go the extra mile
• Physically fit and able to stand for a full shift
• Comfortable with getting dirty
• Able to work in a team as well as independently
• Able to follow Standard Operating Procedures
• Reliable and accountable individual
• Compassionate and caring nature with a love for seabirds
• Trustworthy
• Attention to detail
• Strong sense of initiative
• Excellent communication skills
• Good problem-solving skills
• Ability to multi-task and perform tasks in order of importance and priority and delegate tasks to volunteers and other interns
• Work under pressure
• Previous experience working with birds desirable though not essential

Each intern will receive a training plan that will include an outline of the internship, with goals and action dates to complete these goals. This will be done with the support of your mentor, the Chick Rearing Supervisor and support from the Volunteer Coordinator.

Vacancies for the Seabird Chick Rearing Internships are as follows:

• April 2019 – September 2019 x 1
• June 2019 – November 2019 x 1
• September 2019 – February 2010 x 2
• October 2019 – March 2020 x 1
• December 2019 – May 2020 x 1

Length of internship: 6 months (minimum)
Hours of work: Mostly shift work (AM shift 05:30 am – 02:30 pm or PM shift 01:30 pm – 09:30 pm), 5 days per week (including some weekends and public holidays). Interns may also be expected to work 8:00 am to 5:30 pm* with a lunch break 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm and a short break in the morning and afternoon.