Aalst, the Onion City, known for its Carnival and located along the Dender. Here, in one of the suburbs, you will find the lofts of Niels Van den Driessche. A loft with Boomse tiles and a aviary in front. The lofts are equipped with manure belts since there is little time to clean. Niels is still a young guy among pigeon fanciers and works as a self-employed roofer in the family business.
How it all started
Niels's father started with pigeons around 2005 when they still lived in Ternat. A 1st national Vichy was won here when Niels was about 10 years old. After that, they moved to Aalst. At that time, Niels still practiced cycling, but he stopped and began with the pigeons.
In 2015, he received 5 summer youngsters from Nico Van Muylder, and in the spring of 2016, he got some more young pigeons from the first and a part of the second round from the same fancier. With these, Niels could immediately start racing.
Ultimately, Niels’s 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 sent one pigeon with him. This hen was brought to the breeding loft and became the mother of several good pigeons. Now, years later, she is in many pedigrees of Niels, and one can safely say that this hen has become the foundation hen 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 across the globe. 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. Thus, Niels was forced to stay home more, and the pigeons received better preparation than usual; he discovered that 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 in as well. Yet, he stood more than his ground amid all this competition. Bourges went well, but Chateauroux was top!
In this tough local competition, he achieved a 1st and a 2nd, which were good for a 2nd and an 8th place at the provincial level against 8532 pigeons.
In 2023, Niels won the first prize with the young pigeons for 8 weeks in a row, and in 3 weeks’ time, he achieved 2 x the first provincial. With the young ones, Niels won the 1st provincial Bourges against 4216 competitors with “Baron Du Bourges” (the palmarès of this top pigeon can be found at the bottom of the report), and with the old pigeons, Niels won the 1st, 2nd, and 7th provincial with just these 3 pigeons competing in the Argenton flight.
In 2024, Niels had little time for pigeons, but nonetheless, 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 palmarès. However, he could not send them for the last 3 national flights due to work pressure. It is not easy to combine work and pigeons, especially as a self-employed person. Therefore, Niels has also decided to focus solely on the young pigeons in the coming year. A few yearling hens will also stay with the young ones and will be raced from there. The racing with the old and yearling pigeons will (for now) be stopped. Life is about making choices, and it’s better to do one discipline well than two disciplines half-heartedly. We wish Niels much success with this new path he has chosen, and we are convinced that the necessary quality is present to succeed in his plans.
Best pigeons
Baron Du Bourges : BE23-4092004
- 1st provincial Bourges of 4216 pigeons
- 1st zone Nat Bourges of 2622 pigeons
- 1st Toury of 605 pigeons
- 4th provincial Ace pigeon KBDB allround 2023
- 16th national Ace pigeon KBDB allround 2023
- 24th Belgian Ace pigeon Olympiad 2023
Louise: 4050770-19
(Half-sister of Baron Du Bourges)
- 8th provincial Ace pigeon KBDB GHF 2020
- 15th national Chateauroux 6303d.