The albatross chick arrived back in Dunedin yesterday in an aircraft after an eight-day stay at Massey University's wildlife health centre.
Staff at the centre operated on the chick's femur, putting pins in the bone and outside the leg to support it - a first for the centre when it came to treating an albatross.
Department of Conservation ranger Lyndon Perriman said staff had built a pen that was large enough for the bird to move around in, but sufficiently secure so it could not fly away.
The chicks were about a month away from departing the colony for the open sea.
"By that stage, it will be very keen to get out there. Most of the other chicks will have departed and its instincts will be kicking in."
Its parents had already returned to the headland and, discovering their chick gone, had left for the season.
This meant the chick would need food and medication every day, Massey wildlife veterinarian Kerri Morgan said.
The biggest challenge for the centre had been looking after such a large bird, although the chick had been a "pretty good patient", she said.
"He's got a way to go. He is not out of the woods yet but is doing as well as could be expected."
One of the centre's vets would return in five weeks to X-ray the chick at a local clinic to see if the pins could be removed.
If the leg was healed, the albatross would be allowed to leave the colony.
