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[Jan Harteman]

Hello all,

Are there any people overseas keeping species of ibis/spoonbills?
In Europe, we have a group of enthousiast ibis breeders, called Ibisring. Ibisring was founded by members of Aviornis International.
The Ibisring members are from Western European countries (Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, France, UK...). Together they keep/breed at least 18 species of ibis and 3 species of spoonbills.

Ibisring gathers fanciers, breeders, zoos, parks and institutes out of different countries who are involved in keeping Ibises and/or Spoonbills.

The main goal is to collect and share as much information as possible on the birds. We make a yearly inventory of species and numbers in the captive sector, take initiatives to save the ibis from extinction, set up club projects to work on the most threatened species, try to work together with institutes who share the same idea's, and we encourage breeders to keep ibises so we can work on a broader basis. To do so we maintain this website, write articles for magazines, publish our own ibisbook (in progress), give lectures, organise ibis day's for club members and provide aid to individual breeders.

Most of the information is published on this website. Have a look at our photo documentary. We try to capture as many moments in the life of the captive ibis as possible, and it has shown some of the amazing breeding results our members have achieved.
- Ibisring.com

Interested people should visit the Ibisring website; www.ibisring.com

Some photos:


Lophotibis cristata cristata, Madagascar crested ibis


Theristicus melanopis melanopis, Black-faced ibis


Geronticus eremita, Northern Bald ibis

Regards,

Jan Harteman
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Jan Harteman / Harteman Wildfowl: waterfowl, waders, cranes, storks, pigeons & doves, hornbills, kookaburras etc.

[Mike]

There may be others, but the only Ibis I have seen available to private breeders in the U.S. are Sacred Ibis and Scarlet Ibis. These can be found in aviculture.

I do have a question. I have never kept any of these birds but have had interest. I believe I read or was told that you must have of a colony in order to get the Sacred or Scarlet to reproduce. Is this true?

[Jan Harteman]

As I don't have experience with breeding Ibis myself, I can only refer to what other people told me. Most succesful breeding pairs of ibis live in colonies, however some species can be bred in single pairs very well (I remember Hadada, Buff-necked and Madagascar Crested ibis). One of my friends had some good results with a single couple of Scarlet, but now he raises them much more succesful in a colony of approx. 20 birds. The same is for Sacret, Bald, Puna and other species.


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Jan Harteman / Harteman Wildfowl: waterfowl, waders, cranes, storks, pigeons & doves, hornbills, kookaburras etc.

[Mike]

Thanks for the response!

[Carl]

Although the birds are generally very beautiful, many have very unpleasant habits in an aviary. Many of them habitually wash their food before eating it so that any water becomes polluted and disgusting very quickly. If your feed includes chicks, you can imagine how unpleasant it can get. Choose your species with care.

[Jan Harteman]

That's right Carl, but one should choose a bird of any species with care, not only ibis
I can imagine if you have a pond with a fresh water system (pump/well) it won't be a big problem if they make it a mess. But you're right it can be very disgusting
In that case it might be better to keep egrets/herons in your aviaries, like the Cattle egret or Black-crowned Night heron. They are wonderful too and they don't wash their food as far as I know.
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Jan Harteman / Harteman Wildfowl: waterfowl, waders, cranes, storks, pigeons & doves, hornbills, kookaburras etc.

[Jan Harteman]

While a friend of mine was reading above posts, he wondered why I don't mention that Ibis can be perfectly kept by feeding them floating pellets. This way there won't be any mess if you feed the pellets near the water in a bowl. You can feed it both dry or soaked, but the birds might prefer it soaked as long as they are not used to this type of food. After a while you can even feed it dry in a bowl. The birds will wash it in the water to soak it before they eat it, but still... this won't give as much mess as fish/chicks etc.

By the way, if you do feed Ibis fish, be sure you won´t give them seafish. This is very fat, and the fat will form a layer on the edge of the pond. If the birds go wash themselves, the fat will stain the plumage of the birds... and the birds will soak themselves as they get wet by bathing.
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Jan Harteman / Harteman Wildfowl: waterfowl, waders, cranes, storks, pigeons & doves, hornbills, kookaburras etc.

[Jan Harteman]

More info:
www.ibisring.com
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Jan Harteman / Harteman Wildfowl: waterfowl, waders, cranes, storks, pigeons & doves, hornbills, kookaburras etc.