Kiwi Birdlife Park senior keeper Nicole Kunzmann said the kiwi handling team were "almost ready to be over the moon", but from the moment the egg was laid, the odds had been stacked highly against it.
"The kiwi has battled through poor parenting, adoption and a collapsed egg membrane ... we are so lucky it has made it this far," she said.
The little brown kiwi's biological parents were the equivalent of teenagers and the egg was handed over to a foster kiwi dad, 8-year-old Nyoni, who proved a better parent.
On day 57 of the average 75-day hatching cycle, it was decided the egg should go to the artificial incubator.
Ms Kunzmann said the five-day hatching process went "quite smoothly", but required some assistance when the exhausted kiwi became noticeably sweaty and flustered.
"We had to break off some of the shell near the kiwi's beak and after that it, thankfully, managed to kick its way out on its own," she said.
Two feathers have been sent for genetic testing to determine the chick's gender.
Ms Kunzmann said her team could see the kiwi was ready to hatch when it consumed the internal egg yolk - the final stage of the hatching process.
The chick would remain in a temperature-controlled incubator for at least the next five days, and be weighed every morning and checked on four times a day.
At the time of each check, the temperature would be reduced by 1degC, from an initial 34decC, until an "ambient temperature" of between 19 and 24degC was achieved.
In two days' time, the incubator's supportive pink towel would be removed to allow the chick to "test its legs", and by end of the week, the handlers would try to introduce feeding.
"As the process goes on, it will continue to steadily lose weight, and it won't eat until the egg yolk has been completely digested," Ms Kunzmann said.
On hatching, the soaking-wet kiwi weighed 260g, and yesterday morning it weighed 237g.
It is hoped that in three to four weeks' time, the chick will be ready to run around outside for people to come to see.
The team will now work with the Department of Conservation and the Kiwi Recovery Group to plan for the chick's future.
