hi does anyone in the uk keep captive bred gulls i have a captive bred pr of herring gulls and would love to purchase a pr of greater black backed gulls i dont mind traveling to belgium or holland ect , i known they are not the most popular birds to keep but we like them any info would be great thankyou
Leigh---Some random thoughts about gulls: I remember Whipsnade many years ago [when I first visited as a small child, about 1960], always had a few pinioned examples of the larger gulls walking about in the paddock. I think London Zoo also had them in the long pond at the botttom of the Mappin Terraces; now of course, Herring Gulls breed wild in the zoo, and they would not think of including them in the captive collection. Some time around the 1970s/1980s, London Zoo bred a lot of Silver Gulls, and rather fewer Grey Gulls. At least some of the former went into private aviculture. London Zoo bred Glaucouis Gulls in the later years of the 19th century. The only breeding gulls that I know of currently in UK aviculture, are the Grey Gulls at Paignton. John Lewis Bonhote, writing in the Avicultural Magaziune in 1910, describes his experiences with six gull species, commenting that unpinioned birds in an aviary do better than the same species when pinioned, reflecting that no unpinioned gull of the larger species had EVER died in his possession. He warns that Greater Blackbacks will kill smaller waterfowl. Steinbacher's 'Cage & Garden Birds' gives basic instructions on the two species you mention. An author who goes into much more useful detail is Arthur Moody in 'Game Birds & Waterfowl in Captivity'. My personal experience of captive gulls is small. I picked up a Black-headed about 1970, with a badly smashed wing, which had already more or less rotted off at the pinion joint. This bird lived happily in a friend's back garden for several years, coming into breeding plumage and defending a nest scrape in a flower bed from the family dog. It lived largely on brown bread and the occasional piece of cheese; every time it was given fish, this was vomited up. It was eventually killed by a cat. A few years ago, I picked up an adult Lesser Blackback with a broken wing, clipped back the primaries to take the weight off the injured pinion joint, and turned it out with the waterfowl. Initally pampered with bread and tinned sardines, it soon took to eating grain and poultry pellets. The following year, having moulted out, it was gone one morning. This came as a surprise, as I thought the damaged joint had locked. I never saw the bird again, but heard many months later that it spent a ferw days on a nearby goldfish pond, thinning out the rightful inhabitants. Re seriously keeping gulls, I would suggest two sources of supply. First, talk to any wildlife hospital about rehoming non-releasable wild casualties, which I'm sure are routinely euthanised. Secondly, it should not be difficult to get a licence to take eggs for hatching. I suggest you check the legal ramifications, as it may be that you cannot sell the young bred bred from wild injured stock; there was talk about this, some years ago. Just a thought on pinioning, or even wing-clipping. Those long flight feathers must play a big part in keeping a bird warm. Put it another way, a bird that lacks them, is going to use more of its resources to keep warm. This may explain Bonhote's experience of full-winged birds being better doers. I would be fascinated to hear more about your Herring Gulls. I think gulls are sadly neglected as avicultural subjects, and the larger species particularly appeal to me.
thankyou for reply i will certainly look into look into that , i have a pr of young 2010 herring gulls close rung i purchased from holland im feeding them spratts,herrings,dead day old chicks ,cat food and wildfowl sea bird floating pellets , they realy are nice to keep we have a large aviary with pond and a big rock set up we have also coverd the floor with 4inch of sand and we have just put sea weed,shells ect ect to make it look more natural , i will chase up about greater black backed gulls as they realy are a fantastic looking bird. ps are gulls are pinioned but i would prefer if they were full winged as thet are in a fully netted over aviary
Leigh -- if you have room for an area of turf in the enclosure, it may be even better for their feet than sand. There used to be a firm called 'St Keverne Ornamentals' some 20/30 years ago. I rememberr them advertising Black-headed Gulls in Cage & aviary birds, opnce only; wonder if anyone actually bought any? They also offered Moorhens & Coots
hi thats cool i can turf some of it for them , they dont seem botherd by this cold weather at the mo they do have a shed they can go in but they roost by the pond on some rocks , i gave them some bantam eggs today they sure enjoyed them , its amazing that more people dont keep them iv had a verry mixed response on having them but most of the knockers live by the cost in the sea gulls home and due to mans greed they have resorted to rubbish tips and these people cant see beyond that real shame
I too find it hard to understand some people's antipathy to gulls. Admittedly we are only nine miles from the sea here, but at least one pair of Herring Gulls rears young on a roof top down the road every year. I would hate to be without the amazing noise these birds make, so evocative of the sea and wild places. As a sound, it's up there with gibbons and peafowl; of course, some people don't like those either.......
i have been in contact with many rescue centres today to let them known that we are willing to take on some greater black backed gulls they all seemed verry supprised that somone would want to keep them , search is now on im sure somone will some rescue birds that nead a safe home ,
Leigh--let me know how you get on with your existing gulls, & in your search for more. I'll keep my eyes open for suitable birds.
hi our gulls are doing great i spoke to a seagull rescue place and he said to put a cabbage in with them and wow they love it how strange is that , i have contacted a few rescue places asking about the greater black backed they all said that they get them time to time that cant be re released into the wild so they have all kept my contact number , im also looking to see if there are any breeders and dealers in belgium or holland who may keep them , the greater black backed gull really is a magnificent bird and im really looking foward to keeping some.
I didn't know they would eat greenfood, but then again, if they can digest wheat and bread..... I seem to remember Greater Black-backs have wonderful 'marbled' eyes. As you suggest, they are magnificent birds [I also like the more delicately built Lesser Bb]. Don't put them with anything else when you get them; I've heard of wild ones, working in pairs, attacking and disembowelling pinioned geese. I'll be interested to hear how you get on with these birds.
hi i will let you known when we find some i would def keep them on there own as they are capable of swallowing a puffin whole mmm i keep lots of wildfowl so il be keeping them well away from them , i do like the the lesser black back but then i like all the gulls , i do find it strange so many people are anti them.
i have all sorts dwarf zebu cattle,arapawa goats,wild strain muscovys,hartlaubs ducks,white winged wood ducks, ring teal normal and orange,red jungle fowl , bali starling,java doves and all sorts of finches,european white fronted geese and the herring gulls i have a web site Shatterling Miniatures - Home Page its just a private collection iv kept for many years and enjoy it verry much
My favourite bird, and I too hope to keep them one day. Do you have any tips? Are they difficult to keep, difficult to come by, expensive etc? Not looked into actually owning them yet, to be honest didn't know you could. This is a fresh ray of hope. I also want to keep tragopans when I'm older, have you ever kept any species of these?
Leigh -- interesting collection. What are your Red Junglefowl like. While I no longer keep them, I've had two sorts over the years, of which one had blue legs and no white earlobes [Indian?] and the other had prominent white earlobes & yellow legs [Indo-Chinese?]. I currently have Crested Bronzewinged Pigeons, Emerald & Barbary Doves, Demoiselle Cranes, Bar-headed Geese, [Berlioz'] Silver, Golden & Amherst Pheasants, Ringed, Marbled, Baikal & Sharp-winged Teal, Common Shelduck & Yellowbills. Also Ringneck & Plumhead Parrakeets & Senegal Parrots, Java Sparrows, a Purple Glossy Starling & Bengal Eagle Owls.
hi mine have blue/greenish legs i have about 50 of them running about they breed like mad , sounds like your as mad as me lol , in regards to the bali starling it was donated to me i no its a male from its leg ring i would like it go to a breeding program i have it in a large aviary with java doves and finches he loves his meal worms and he is a cherpy little thing , its a shame they are so rare, iv never kept tragopans
Leigh; there are two ways of getting a mate for your Bali Starling. One is to go through the [pefectly legal, they are out there, captive-bred, at a price, I'm sure you have the contacts], or you try to convince the stud book holder to let you have one from the managed population. The latter course of action might not succeed, and you would need permission to breed from them. The more expensive route is probaly the best. Unless your bird has scarce genes [unlikely, as it is probably descended from the stock that Jersey used to sell in pre-EAZA days], the organised breeding programme probably wouldn't want it, never mind want to breed from it. It's probably worth more to you than to them. Lovely birds, anyway. Do your Red Junglefowl have a total 'eclipse' moult of all the cape feathers at once? Sonneratt's do this, and some of the purest [ie nearest to wild type] Reds are said to do so. Lovely things to have running around, anyway.
he is nice but i would rather he went to a keen breeder of them , i have looked into purchasing a female but to no joy , im more into my outher birds and mini zebu cattle, my jungle fowl do nr eclipse moult they look a right old mess in the autumn , thanks for the info on the bali starlings, im realy hoping to breed my white winged wood ducks this year iv just built 3 monster aviarys with ponds rocks and old dead oak branches iv not had them long but i realy like them i purchased them in holland and at the same time i purchased the herring gulls he also had loads of cranes and storks
Thanks for the info - There's a variety of bird species I didn't know could be kept that I'd like to get when I'm older
thats cool if you cant find what you want in uk always take a look on net in belgium and holland thay have many breeders/keepers of some great stock and a lot of them speek good english and will deliver to uk i have imported cattle and birds and as long as you have a valid health cert realy no problems at the moment but it alway pays to check with animal health to make sure no restrictions at that time
