Players Bart & Paulien (Herne) own a truly all-round loft where pure class prevails, highlighted by the 1st National Argenton in 2022 against 20,467 pigeons. This impressive performance was achieved by their hen "Paulien," named after Bart's daughter.
Bart, a mailman by profession, and his daughter Paulien (born in 2012) prefer to keep the pigeon game as simple as possible. This will later be evident from their system and how they try to keep the pigeons as close to nature as possible.
How it Started
When the pigeon club was established in 1996 in his parents' café, Bart began with pigeons in Vollezele. Primarily, the sprint races Quiévrain and Noyon were played there. In 2001, he moved to Herne where he played tandem with Dieter Van Laethem (Neigem) until 2008. For 5 years, they performed very strongly in races up to 300km, thanks to pigeons from Dirk De Dobbeleer, Wim Moens, and Jef Van Winkel (line of white English).
In 2010, Bart and his family moved to another location in Herne where the focus shifted to longer flights up to 500km, going through ups and downs until he took a sabbatical year in 2018. During this year off, he went to get fond pigeons from a fancier: Etienne De Meyer from Tollembeek. Here, he primarily acquired Barcelona blood and crossed it with his base strain. This turned out to be a shot in the arm as in 2022, they immediately won a 1st national Argenton. Since then, several reinforcements have been obtained from Etienne, so the pigeon population in Herne consists of at least 50% Etienne De Meyer blood. With these pigeons, one can easily compete in races up to 750km. Normally, Bart plays with widowers and hens, but in 2024, he will start only with 32 hens.
System
The 23 breeding pairs are paired around Christmas, and the young are not darkened. They are well raised and played on the sliding door. The youngsters are kept as naturally as possible, and any young pigeon that cannot remain healthy must be removed, or it will naturally stay away. Mainly, the youngsters are played in sprint races. The focus here is not on the young pigeons but on the racing hens.
These racing hens are played in the classic widower system with a fixed partner. Usually, they are allowed to see their cock before marking, but here Bart occasionally deviates from that to motivate the hens extra. In terms of nutrition, the Galaxy mix from Beyers takes care of this, as well as Beyers' by-products. The veterinarian is visited once a year for the obligatory vaccination and a general check-up to ensure that everything is fine. Bart prefers to keep medication as far away from his pigeons as possible. He loves to keep his pigeons close to nature. Thus, he mainly uses natural products like sleeping sand or SAS drops for the head or yellow drops against trichomonas.
Here in Herne, there is only room for pure class pigeons. The following results prove this more than sufficiently. For example, in 2024, they played fond in the local club in Viane, with the following nice results:
Tulle
Local old 203: 18,38 2/2
Yearlings 153: 10,13,17,21,23,26,30,36,48 9/17
Limoges old 213: 28,31 2/2
Yearlings 86: 2,3,13,14,20,25,27 7/14
Tulle yearlings 169: 1,3,7,19,46,53 6/10
Furthermore, several beautiful performances from Bourges against 834 yearlings: 34,41,43,46,75,109,127,151,164,165,212 11/18
Local yearlings 121: 4,5,6,8,12,14,18,21,24,27,28,33,45 12/18
2020
Chateauroux: local:2,7,47 etc. 9/24
Argenton: local:6,13 etc. 4/8
Issoudun: local:1,15,25,28,32,34 etc. 10/19
La souterraine: local:3,5,6,39 etc. 8/17
Gueret: local:15,21,22,24 etc. 10/12
2021
Argenton: local: 31 etc. 3/5
Local: 30,62 etc. 8/19
Argenton: local: 3,13,14,15,17 etc. 6/10
- Union:8,46,47,53,65 etc. 6/10
Local:1,2,19 etc. 7/14
La souterraine: local: 1,2,6,8 etc. 7/9
- Union: 5,8,18,30 etc. 7/9
- Prov.12,28,51 etc. 7/9
- Zone:12,28,46 etc. 5/9
- Nat.108,219,387 etc. 5/9
2022
Bourges: local: 36 etc. 5/9
Argenton: local:1,18,22,30 etc. 8/10
- Union:1,52,70,102 etc. 8/10
- Prov: 1,115,148 etc. 8/10
- Zone: 1,130,177 etc. 6/10
- Nat.1,1054,1378 etc. 6/10
Argenton: local: 12,18,21,22 etc. 11/26
- Union:35,50,56,57 etc. 11/26
Argenton: local: 12,23,26 etc. 5/8
Argenton: local: 5,20,36,37,38 etc. 7/18
Local: 2,23,24 etc. 8/18
Geuret: local: 4,7,14,16 etc. 7/12
- Union: 26,39, 62,68 etc. 7/12
Bourges: local: 4,7,14,16 etc. 7/12
- Union: 11,39,62,68 etc. 7/12
Chateauroux: local: 2,7 etc. 7/8
Argenton: local: 2,8,10 etc. 4/8
Argenton: local: 1,6 etc. 5/5
- Union: 1,10 etc. 5/5
- Prov.: 1,16 etc. 5/5
- Zone: 4,20 etc. 4/5
- Nat: 12, 106 etc. 4/5
Chateauroux: local: 3,17,23 etc. 4/5
- Zone: 3,43 etc. 4/5
2023
Argenton: local: 3,19, etc. 7/12
- Union: 3,63 etc. 5/12
- Prov.: 1,167 etc. 5/12
- Zone: 4,222 etc. 5/12
- Nat.: 34 etc. 5/12
Local: 1,2,5,12,21,22,25,26,36 etc. 12/19
- Union: 3,10,15,31,48,54, 57 etc. 12/19
- Prov.: 17,51, 103,170 etc. 12/19
- Zone: 33,84,146 etc. 9/19
- Nat.: 356,701,1141 etc. 8/19
Libourne: local: 10,13 etc. 6/9
- Union: 17,22, 25 etc. 6/9
- Prov.: 36,41 etc. 6/9
Chateauroux: local: 1,2,7,8 etc. 4/5
- Union: 2,21 etc. 4/5
- Prov.: 3,35 etc. 3/5
- Zone: 2,50 etc. 3/5
- Nat.: 20 etc. 3/5
Chateauroux: local: 7,10 etc. 3/4
- Union: 43,54 etc. 3/4