By the mid-1950s, Welch was recognised for his expertise in raising endangered species. He was contacted by the Wildlife Division to assist with a plan to collect
takahē chicks from the wild in the
Murchison Mountains of
Fiordland National Park. Welch spent two years preparing for this assignment, training his
bantam hens to sit on boiled eggs inside wooden boxes, and to cope with the stresses of travel. Welch travelled with his bantams to Fiordland in November 1957, driving to
Wellington, crossing to the South Island on the ferry and then driving to
Te Anau and across the lake on a launch. Together with photographer Peter Morrison and biologist Gordon Williams they carried the bantams and equipment in back packs, into the Takahē Valley. They were able to collect two takahē chicks to be cared for in nest boxes by the bantam hens, along with four eggs. The men returned with the birds and eggs to Wellington. The entire operation was carried out in secrecy because of some public opposition to the idea of removing the birds from their remaining natural environment. The initial operation was only a partial success, because the four eggs failed to hatch. A second expedition to Fiordland took place in 1959. This time, Welch trained his bantam hens to sit on
pūkeko eggs. A clutch of takahē eggs was removed from Fiordland, and successfully hatched and raised by the hens. It was subsequently found that these takahē chicks had imprinted on their bantam mothers and would not mate with other takahē. In a separate initiative in early 1961, the Wildlife Division captured a number of
kākāpō in Fiordland, and transferred them to Kelvin Grove for study, because little was then known about these birds. ==Death in Nigeria==