Aalst, the City of Onions, known for its Carnival and located by the Dender. Here in one of the suburbs you will find the lofts of Niels Van den Driessche. An attic loft with Boom tiles and an aviary in front. The lofts are equipped with manure belts since there is little time to clean. Niels is still a young guy among the pigeon fanciers and works as a self-employed roofer in the family business.
How it started
Niels' father started with pigeons around the year 2005 when they still lived in Ternat. Here, a 1st national Vichy was won when Niels was about 10 years old. After that, they moved to Aalst. At that time, Niels was still practicing cycling, but he stopped this and started with pigeons.
He received 5 summer youngsters from Nico Van Muylder in 2015, and in the spring of 2016, several young pigeons came from the first round and part of the 2nd round from the same fancier. This allowed Niels to start racing immediately.
Ultimately, Niels' best pigeon came from those 5 summer youngsters. This hen flew a 4th provincial Argenton, and the following year she won a 1st local, again from Argenton. Niels only had one pigeon with him at that time. This hen was brought to the breeding loft, where she became the mother of several good pigeons. Now, years later, she graces many pedigrees of Niels and can be called the matriarch of the loft, and Niels honored her with the name “loftmother 075-15”.
The Corona Era
It was in 2020 that Covid, or Corona, spread worldwide. Various measures were taken nationally to curb this epidemic, including limiting contact between people to a minimum. The roofing sector was also affected and was required to stay home. Niels was thus forced to stay home more, and the pigeons received better preparation than usual; now he discovered he could get more out of his pigeons.
He raced in the local “Land van Aalst” against tough competition, such as Team Noel-Willockx, and then Tom van Gaver joined as well. Nonetheless, he stood his ground amidst all this competition. Bourges was good, but Chateauroux was top!
In this tough local competition, he achieved a 1st and a 2nd, which was good for a 2nd and 8th position at the provincial level against 8532 pigeons.
In 2023, Niels played the first prize for 8 weeks in a row with the young pigeons, and within 3 weeks, he achieved 2 x the first provincial. With the young birds, Niels won the 1st provincial Bourges against 4216 competitors with "Baron Du Bourges" (the palmares of this star can be found at the bottom of the report), and with the old pigeons, Niels won the 1st, 2nd, and 7th provincial with only these 3 pigeons in competition on the flight from Argenton.
In 2024, Niels had little time for pigeons, but despite this, he still had a fairly strong season with the yearlings and the old pigeons:
- Limoges 05/07 – 356 pigeons (Yearlings): 1, 16, 20, 48, 76, 116 (6/12)
- La Souterraine 20/07 - 224 pigeons: 7, 15, 16, 28, 29, 43, 65 (7/10)
- Bourges 28/07 – 319 pigeons (yearlings): 4, 9, 18, 19, 25, 50, 57, 91 (8/8)
- Tulle 03/08 – 244 pigeons (yearlings): 1, 12, 19, 28, 34, 35 (7/7)
- Tulle 03/08 – 152 pigeons (old): 7, 8, 17, 25 (4/5)
With the young pigeons, he had a very good early season, including 6 first places on their palmares. However, due to work pressures, he was unable to send them for the last 3 national races. It is not easy to combine work and pigeons, especially as a self-employed person. Therefore, Niels has decided that next year he will only focus on the young pigeons. A few yearling hens will also be residing with the young ones and will be raced from there. The racing with the old and yearlings will be stopped (for now). Life is about making choices, and it’s better to do one discipline well than two disciplines poorly. We wish Niels much success with this new path and are convinced that he has the necessary quality to succeed in his goals.
Best Pigeons
Baron Du Bourges: BE23-4092004
- 1st provincial Bourges from 4216 pigeons
- 1st zone national Bourges 2622 pigeons
- 1st Toury 605 pigeons
- 4th provincial Asduif KBDB allround 2023
- 16th national Asduif KBDB allround 2023
- 24th Belgian Asduif Olympiade 2023
Louise: 4050770-19
(Half-sister of Baron Du Bourges)
- 8th provincial Asduif KBDB GHF 2020
- 15th national Chateauroux 6303d.