I've searched for sources of captive-bred large birds for a long time and I found this place called Smith's Nurseries in 2016. Has anyone ever heard of / done business with this place? They have some hard-to-find species such as Blue-Winged Goose, Puna Teal, Northern Lapwing, and even Snowy Owls! I've been following them and since then and their inventory has grown. They offer poultry, waterfowl, game birds, cage birds, and park birds. Now it looks like they're getting ready to offer flamingos! Many of their larger birds are listed as POA "Price on Application?" so I'm guessing they're charging a lot for these larger species. If this place is legit it's incredible because you can only find a very small number of "park birds" in the US which usually are the two Crowned Cranes, Stanley Cranes, Demoiselle Cranes, Sacred Ibises, and sometimes Abdim's Storks. Are stores like this legit or are more people able to acquire large birds over in the UK, EU than in the US?
I know at least one person who has visited this place (he's on here actually) and saw flamingos, Harlequin Ducks, Spectacled Eider among others. It's legit (but very much an exception - there aren't places like this on every street corner or anything! ). It's on the way to one of my favourite birding sites so will try to call in myself at some point.
I’ll just echo the ‘legit’ thing. It’s a major breeding station for waterfowl, waders, and at least two crane species. Very well kept and a major contribution to sustained captive populations.
Yay!!! I wonder how much paperwork is involved for US or other countries? I'm so glad its professional and that Greater Flamingos (P. roseus) aren't on the MBTA! I'd go for Lesser, but because they're more difficult to keep I'll go for Greaters instead.
Awesome! Thank you! Itd be great if you could get some photos if they allow them on site. There was a facility called Kooy & Sons that used to be around but closed a year or two ago. They used to have many large birds. Also there's a place called VD Feestens Breeding Farm in Holland that has flamingos, cranes and ibises as well. I may be wrong on this, but currently many large bird aviculture operations seem to be in the Netherlands.
There are a number of very large breeding farms all throughout Europe. Virtually every species of waterfowl currently represented in aviculture, barring a few region locked species, are represented in these breeding farms, including green pygmy geese, torrent ducks, and more. A few different pelican species, all the different flamingos besides Puna, a number of different waders, at least 2 separate species of penguin, a variety of storks, spoonbill, and ibis, along with virtually every species of crane, can be found throughout these breeding farms as well. Honestly for virtually any species group of bird, captive bred, Europe is the place to go. The only possible exception would be for Toucans and co (the states still holds that card), but I'd be willing to bet good money that within the next 10 years, that will change as well. Most of these places (especially for ducks and geese) pump out REDICULOUS numbers of birds, however the vast majority are actually exported to the middle east and Asia, and most of the remainder stays within Europe. A very tiny trickle arrives into Canada and to a lesser extent the US, however unfortunately these avenues are rapidly drying up, especially for the states, as airline regulations tighten and quarantine requirements become more frustrating, and quarantine stations stateside shutdown. As for buying birds from them (from an international perspective), you don't buy the birds directly from the farms. Instead you would go through an export station, who purchases birds from whatever farms they have a relationship with, and you get the birds though them. As word of warning though, as someone who has dealt with them before and knows someone who imports from them regularly, they can be difficult to deal with. Sending to North America is much more difficult than within Europe or to the rest of the "old world" so for the few stations willing to send to NA, they often require orders starting at a minimum of 10,000 dollars, and its still a hassle and a half to manage.
Generally in my experience it's more about trying to get into the in crowd of aviculturists in your area. It's always surprising to know just how many species are kept by someone right on your doorstep and you just never knew it until you found out from someone else. Building relationships with other private aviculture facilities one on one instead of as a client of a big breeder also opens a world of opportunities if you find the right person. I personally know of many that have birds of breeding loans to friends that they've met through the community and alot of times species you rarely see on the open market here in the US doesn't mean they're not kicking around somewhere, it just means that the people that have them give or sell them to friends first before going out and trying the open market.
