Listing their top performances is nearly an impossible task. Trying to compete in long-distance races proves to be much more challenging. At Agen this year, they achieved 3rd and 9th nationally with two half-brothers of “Remco,” who himself won 1st Nat. Agen! Good blood doesn’t lie...
Division of Tasks and Loft Stock
Father Fernand Malfait (77) started as an independent coachbuilder in 1969 and began racing pigeons in the middle distance in 1972. Even as a young man, Serge shared a passion for pigeon racing, and after years of successes in the middle distance, he made the transition to long-distance and heavy long-distance. Now Serge (49) runs a garage together with his youngest brother in Jabbeke. Although their father is now retired, he still helps as much as possible at his sons' garage. Fernand takes care of the racing team, which consists of about 25 old pigeons and around 30 yearlings, while Serge looks after the breeding pigeons housed with him and pairs them. Together, they decide which pigeons will be entered in which races.
Annually, about 100 youngsters are rung from 14 pairs of breeders. From this limited breeding loft, breeding occurs throughout the year to have as many youngsters – especially late ones – as possible from the best old pigeons. Furthermore, inbreeding is also frequently practiced.
Care
At Malfait, at the start of the season, cleansing is fed, and only after 2 nights in the basket does sport appear on the menu, using 4 different brands, always in full portions. The lofts are never cleaned during the season, and the veterinarian only comes by just before the season and when it's really necessary. Every 2 to 3 weeks, something against trichomoniasis is administered. The early young pigeons are only prepared for racing, and the late youngsters never see a basket in their birth year. As yearlings, the trained young pigeons race to Agen and participate in 2 to 3 national middle-distance races and preferably 1 day-long race. As two-year-olds, they should be ready to compete in all races.
Memorable Agen
For Fernand and Serge Malfait, the most beautiful victory was at the grueling Agen in 2019: “It had been scorching hot all week, and the release was postponed by a day. On the day of the release, temperatures rose above 35°C, and no Belgian pigeon reached its loft that same day. At 04:24 in the morning, 'Remco' landed on the landing board! He won 1st national Agen old pigeons with a lead of 1 hour and 10 minutes over all 8579 Belgian pigeons. Only three pigeons managed to reach 800m/min at that time...”
This performer was clearly made of the right stuff, as evidenced by 2 half-brothers (same father as Remco!) this year at Agen: among the yearlings, father and son Malfait easily won 3rd and 9th nationally against 7331 pigeons, even with the 1st and 2nd nominated!
Breeding Line
The first long-distance pigeons at Malfait were Dordin pigeons. One flew 20th internationally at Lourdes in 1983 against 3423 pigeons and 22nd internationally at Perpignan three weeks later from 3589 competitors. This became the first founding pigeon of the colony. Later, the second foundation pigeon 'The Olympiad' was added. This pigeon became the Olympiad pigeon for long-distance Gran Canaria with the following prizes:
2nd Angouleme 263d
6th prov La Souterraine 331d
7th Chateauroux 825d
34th prov Poitiers 2748
76th internat Dax 4730d
78th nat Cahors 7528d
138th internat Perpignan 10444d
209th nat Brive 21012d.
In 1996, a son of 'The Olympiad' won 1st internationally at Dax, and a grandson 'Bettini' became the next foundation pigeon with, among others, 1st national Dax 2004. 'Bettini' was not inexperienced as he was already 12th national ace pigeon in the heavy long-distance category of KBDB as a two-year-old with, among others:
13th nat Perpignan 7537d
83rd nat Dax 5026d
87th nat Castres 4101d.
The current foundation pigeons of the loft are undoubtedly 'Monsere' and 'Ludo'.
'Monsere' (3158706/2013)
won as a yearling 186th national Poitiers against 14094d.
As an 18-month-old, he became 3rd national ace pigeon in heavy long-distance KBDB
with 19th national Agen 3524d, 186th national St Vincent 3037d, and 38th national Perpignan 5254d.
As for lineage, this top performer is 100% Carteus on the father's side and closely inbred to the 'Bonte Barcelona' (4th nat Perpignan and 69th nat Barcelona).
His mother was a granddaughter of the aforementioned 'Bettini' 1st national Dax and comes from the line of the world-famous 'Didi' from Etienne Devos, 1st national ace pigeon in heavy long-distance KBDB.
'Ludo' (6302965/2014)
was born in September 2014 and won as an 18-month-old 19th Fontenay 1264d, 843rd nat Limoges 13493d, 36th nat Cahors 6174d, 547th nat Libourne 5195d, and as icing on the cake 1st national Jarnac against 4167 pigeons and fastest of 8071 pigeons!
His father won 17th and 21st national Montelimar and was an inbred product again to 'Didi' of Etienne Devos, 1st national ace pigeon in heavy long-distance KBDB.
3032387/2021: 9th National Agen Yearlings 2022
born in October 2021, same father as “Remco”: 1st National Agen 2019
Father 4257637/2016
Mother 3017400/2014
16/04 Clermont 49 164
30/04 Clermont last. 22 242
old 35 465
07/05 Fontenay last. 7 181
old 13 456
zone last. 83 1873
zone o. 242 4833
prov. last. 313 3411
prov. o. 815 8716
14/05 Orleans last. 3 334
old 3 704
zone last. 17 2799
zone o. 26 6684
prov. last. 99 6206
prov. o. 170 14198
28/05 Bourges 64 324
zone 293 1369
prov. 985 3696
04/06 Argenton 42 465
zone 193 1803
prov. 582 4091
nat. 1848 18763
18/06 Argenton 2 288
zone 7 1271
prov. 18 3148
nat. 66 12938
02/07 Agen 3 320
federation 3 535
prov. 6 1820
nat. 9 7331 brother wins 3 nationally
intnat. 21 16932
“Wout” 3008651/2015
Probably one of the best Belgian all-round pigeons of recent years!
His results:
- Pau 1/291, nat. 56/3600
- Limoges 4/342, zone 10/1060, nat. 84/13569
- Limoges 4/362, zone 9/1410, nat. 166/15789
- Angouleme 7/117, nat. 56/4525
- Libourne 9/146, zone 18/445, nat. 260/4605
- Cahors 6/139, zone 20/492, nat. 283/6903
- Narbonne 3/58, nat. 91/4454
- Bourges 39/752, nat. 2469/34311
- Fontenay 9/121
- Blois 21/263
- Vierzon 17/229
- Limoges nat. 312/9661
- Limoges zone 68/811, nat. 1273/10319
- Tulle nat. 429/6206
- St Vincent nat. 204/3080
- Libourne nat. 248/3927
- Pau 288/3734
He was in 2019 and 2020:
- 1st ace pigeon long-distance club Gistel
- 2nd ace pigeon long-distance club Gistel
- 9th Pipa ranking 5 long-distance races
- 38th Pipa ranking 4 long-distance races
- 126th Pipa ranking 3 long-distance races
- 39th Pipa ranking Limoges 2 races
- 27th Pipa ranking Limoges 3 races
- 57th national ace pigeon Heavy Long-distance
Season 2022
- Limoges old national 17356 pigeons 409-446-560-669-1095-1364-1500-2100-2373-2446-2450-2677-2760-3929 (20)
- Barcelona old national 6560 pigeons 986-1493 (2)
- Cahors old national 3018 pigeons 67-478 (3)
- Argenton yearlings national 12938 pigeons 66-388-405-458-614-866 (8)
- Agen yearlings national 7331 pigeons 3-9-281-682-747-1414-1733 (11)
Season 2021
Old pigeons:
- Pau club 1/291 (1/ 2), national 56/3600 (Wout)
- Marseille provincial 1/129 (1/ 2), national 49/1882
- Agen National 6938d: 429,444,497,997,1131,1363 (6/7)
- St. Vincent National 3080d: 129,204 (2/2)
- Cahors National 3651d: 15,59,162 (3/3)
Yearlings:
- Argenton Zonally 1504d: 9,13,31,40,41,52,94,112,119,125,129,134,192,224,271,285,367 (17/33)
- Perigueux National 4779d: 94,140,178,240,262,346,371,662,694,858,958,986,1009,1025 (14/26)
Results 2020
In their regular racing locality, the long-distance club Gistel achieved the following championships:
- 1st champion international races
- 1st ace pigeon yearlings -600km
- 2nd ace pigeon long-distance old +600km
- 2nd ace pigeon old -600km
- 2nd members championship
- 3rd champion yearlings -600km
- 3rd champion yearlings +600km
- Bourges 61 old: 2,21 (2/2)
- Bourges 92 yearlings: 3,9,22,23,24,28 (6/6)
- Issoudun 225 yearlings: 6,8,11,16,62,75 (6/11)
- La Souterraine 170 yearlings: 4
- Tulle 29d: 2,5,6,7,8,13 (6/6)
- Tulle zonally 164d: 5,26,31,33,37,50 (6/6)
- Aurillac nat. 3004 yearlings: 119 (1/ 2)
- St Vincent nat. 3038d: 16,98,695 (3/3)
- Perpignan nat. 2643d: 34,142 (2/2)
- Narbonne nat. 4454d: 191,248,366 (3/ 4)
Highlights
- 1st Olympiad pigeon Long-Distance Gran Canaria 1993
- 1st internationally Dax 1996
- 1st national Dax 2004
- 1st national Jarnac 2016
- 1st national Agen 2019
- 3rd national champion Heavy Long-distance 1997
- 3rd national ace pigeon Heavy Long-distance 2015
- 4th national champion Long-distance 2019
- 5th national ace pigeon Heavy Long-distance 2010
- 6th national ace pigeon Heavy Long-distance 2006
- 8th national champion Long-distance 2011
- 8th national champion Heavy Long-distance 2013
- 9th national ace pigeon Heavy Long-distance 2004
- 11th national champion Heavy Long-distance 2014
- 12th national ace pigeon large long-distance 2003
