How it started
In the early 90s, Dirk & Kurt, together with their father, started with pigeon racing. Initially, they focused primarily on the sprint and small middle-distance races. Afterward, they sporadically switched to races like Bourges on the advice of fellow pigeon fanciers.
The focus is mainly on the old birds, especially on total widowhood. The young birds are primarily well trained, and if possible, they try to let the youngsters fly at least a small middle-distance race.
In recent years, they have been playing further with the old birds in long-distance and big long-distance races, while also competing in the small middle-distance and big middle-distance races to train the pigeons.
Lineage
Their own foundation line from when they started, and in recent years they have added pigeons from: Rans Alex, Rans Jeroen & Stijn, De Schepper Geert (the Smeyter-Restiaen pigeons), Willems, De Backer Koen, Christians Dirk. In short, pigeons specifically for the longer races.
Breeding
The old pigeons are treated in September against paratyphus and are vaccinated after this treatment, and 3 weeks later they are also vaccinated against paramyxo/rota. This way, the pigeons are ready to be paired by early December. The flying team will be paired in mid-January when the young from the breeding pigeons are 14 days old. When the youngsters are 5 weeks old, they are vaccinated against paramyxo/rota, and this vaccination is repeated 3 weeks later. The pigeons are also treated for pox 3 weeks before the season starts. Due to time constraints, the youngsters are not darkened or artificially lit. Dirk & Kurt focus on playing with the old pigeons. The young pigeons go outside when they have time; they are released in the morning one week and in the afternoon the next, depending on how the brothers need to work. After all, it remains primarily a hobby.
The training of the young pigeons begins when they can fly around the house for about an hour. They are then taken away about 5 times and sent directly to Noyon (158 km). The goal with the young pigeons is mainly to gain experience for the following year.
Playing system with the old pigeons
Sometimes one must dare to change a bit, and this year they will pair for the first time before the season, which will happen around mid-January.
The pigeons have been outside until the end of November and will only come back outside at the end of February, depending on the weather and the birds of prey. Annually, about 10% of the pigeons usually succumb here, especially among the young pigeons, many casualties are reported. When the weather permits, they start training the old birds. This goes very quickly: 3 to 4 releases and then toward Noyon (2x), before going to the small middle-distance. Afterward, they follow the program they want to play with the pigeons.
The pigeons are housed in 4 adjoining lofts and on the day of basketing, they are all brought together by sliding everything open. The doors lead to a run in front of the loft so they can choose what they want to do, and after 5 to 10 minutes, they go into the basket. Dirk & Kurt play total widowhood, but this coming year, they plan to normally play the 14 pairs for the big long-distance on eggs.
Feeding
They are not really tied to a specific brand of feed; they also look for what's affordable. When you see the price differences between various brands, it becomes very expensive for the working person to play with the pigeons.
Medical and supplements
In recent years, they always go to Stijn Rans for the health check of the pigeons and the mandatory vaccinations. This visit takes place 3 weeks before the start of the season, and during the year, 1 or 2 visits are planned, also because they need to be there to let the young pigeons be vaccinated and to check if they are okay.
They always follow the veterinarian's guidelines if something is not right. What they also do is provide a basic treatment of 1 week against trichomoniasis (tricho green from Vincent Schroeder) in the water and on the food with Orniclean before the season, so the pigeons are ready to start.
During the season, they get recovery in the water as well as vitamins when they return home.
Grit and a mineral mixture are always available in the loft.
Lofts
Here in Huizingen, there are garden lofts. The 4 racing lofts for the old pigeons are equipped with a run and the racing loft for the first round of young pigeons also has a run. During the off-season, the pigeons are kept in the runs at the back of the garden, so there is less cleaning work and they are quickly ready to feed and give water to everyone.
"Important matters for good performance"
First and foremost, start with purebred and healthy foundation pigeons. Good pigeons can only be obtained by racing them and selecting strictly. They are primarily challenged to keep up with the pace of the different races they have to complete. In this way, they select themselves. When basketing, it usually depends on several factors, such as condition, health, but also how they are cared for on the way. Here, you do see differences between the various races, and much also depends on the releases. In recent years, many disasters have occurred here due to not reviewing or misinterpreting weather images and information available for free. Such as thunderstorms and rain zones, especially at the start of the races. Dirk and Kurt remember the flight from Narbonne where the pigeons were released and 20 km later encountered a severe thunderstorm, causing many pigeons to be left behind or found dead around Narbonne. Dirk & Kurt were then called by a lady who reported that she had found about 100 pigeons in a forest 20 km from Narbonne. This lady told them that that day in the morning, there had been thunderstorms and rain for a few hours, how the organizers did not see this in the radar images remains a mystery to them.
Pigeon racing & future
In Dirk & Kurt's opinion, the future of pigeon racing does not look so bright; they explain further: “Too much interference from professional players who have the organizers in their pockets. They decide when races should start earlier or be postponed. The working person cannot always take vacation and misses races because of this. I remember a national race on the big middle distance; this was even basked earlier on Wednesday to be released on Friday. We as small fries were only informed on Tuesday evening while we later learned that some members had known about this since Monday morning.” These are things that really should not be allowed anymore, yet both gentlemen conclude: “As long as we can enjoy it, we will continue to play, but the day the interference increases, it will happen without us, and I think many will follow.”
Some beautiful results 2024
Noyon 519 old: 13, 14, 24, 25, 26, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45,...
Sermaises 428 old: 2, 4, 8, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 28, 30, 31,...
Sermaises 247 old: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 16, 20, 21, 24,...
Sermaises 261 old: 1, 6, 12, 15, 17,...
728 old: 1, 14, 27, 41, 54,...
Sermaises 253 old: 3, 5, 7, 19, 21, 29, 31, 35,...
501 yearlings: 16, 23, 47, 59, 60,...
Valence 188 old: 4, 15, 35, 37
Sermaises 208 old: 3, 4, 19, 35, 39,...
Tulle 62 old: 1, 8, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19
Limoges 6889 old: 4, 587
Blois 85 yearlings: 1, 9, 15, 24
Argenton 78 old: 4, 7 (2-2)
84 yearlings: 1, 18, 26, 27 (4-6)
Sermaises 122 old: 5, 7, 11, 15, 18, 20,..
Tulle 76 old: 4, 6, 15 (3-4)
Perpignan 155 old: 10, 32, 36,... (6-8)
First prizes, provincial, zonal, and national top achievements 2024
- local 1/247 sermaises 18/May
- local 1/261 sermaises 25/May
- local 1/728 sermaises 25/May
- local 1/287 bourges 25/May
- local 1/54 valance 8/Jun
- local 1/62 tulle 23/Jun
- local 1/641 limoges 5/Jul
- local 1/27 blois 6/Jul
- local 1/85 blois 6/Jul
- local 1/84 argenton 13/Jul
- local 1/25 brive 20/Jul
- local 1/110 fay aux loges 28/Jul
- local 1/109 lorris 3/Aug
- national zone 29/3037 limoges 1/Jun
- national zone 36/4061 bourgers 25/May
- national zone 20/1517 valance 8/Jun
- national zone 15/2033 tulle 23/Jun
- national zone 2/2033 limoges 5/Jul
- national zone 59/1740 argenton 13/Jul
- national zone 23/1060 brive 20/Jul
- national zone 66-1155 marseille 19/Jul
- national 4/6838 limoges 5/Jul
- national 135/10653 limoges 1/Jun
- national 175/24006 bourges 25/May
- national 128/5469 valance 8/Jun
- national 80/7883 tulle 23/Jun
- national 160/3491 brive 20/Jul
- national 121/2082 marseille 19/Jul
- provincial 1/631 limoges 5/Jul
- provincial 5/1993 sermaises 25/May
- provincial 9-1107 limoges 1/Jun
- provincial 17/1667 blois 1/Jun
- provincial 25/1667 blois 1/Jun
- provincial 17/718 valance 8/Jun
- provincial 7-734 tulle 23/Jun
- provincial 23-544 sermaises 29/Jun
- provincial 7/440 brive 20/Jul
- provincial 15/247 marseille 19/Jul
- provincial 5/498 lorris 3/Aug
In the auction are children of 2057513/2019; she was the best racing hen in 2020 and 2021. She was two-time ace pigeon in the local races, won 5x 1st on the big middle distance and achieved 6x top 120 nationally! Below is her complete pedigree: