Roger Keynen (Nijlen) TOTAL SALE
Due to health issues, Roger has to part with his entire colony. After a very strict selection, he offers only 52 pigeons, each one in which Roger has the utmost confidence, including his 6th national ace pigeon long-distance yearlings from last year, accompanied by both parents!
Breeding Configuration
Roger Keynen began his pigeon career through friends in 1980. Initially focused on the sprint and small middle-distance, he later switched to the large middle-distance, long-distance, and heavy long-distance. In the early years, it was mainly birds from Maurice Voets and K. Schellens that brought him triumphs weekly. Later, additional quality came to his lofts from Van Hove-Uytterhoeven, Marcel Aelbrecht via Mermans, G. Van Hassel, and Walter Roziers.
Widower System with Males
Roger bred with 18 breeding pairs, producing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd rounds of young pigeons. The first round was fully trained and raced to become mature racing pigeons, while the second and third rounds were only supposed to gain experience in the shorter races. The young were darkened from March until the end of May, but afterwards, they were not provided additional light.
Training for the young pigeons began with some short-distance sessions, followed by flights towards Vilvoorde and then to Quiévrain. The old pigeons started at about 20 km, then 2x Vilvoorde, and onto Quiévrain.
With the old and yearlings, only males were raced in a traditional widowhood system with a house-flying female, which is why only about 13 females passed the selection for sale.
Nutrition and Supplements
For the racing team, Roger typically used a light Vandenabeele mixture and supplemented with Widowhood mix from Beyers as the races approached. Veterinarian Kristof Mortelmans was honored to support this top colony and also provided the supplements: primarily Hepatoveto and vitamins, and yellow drops at the time of basketing. At the start of the season, a 5-day course with ronidazole was given, followed by about five days of Soludox to keep the beaks clean. The latter was usually repeated again in the middle of the season. His dry garden lofts with Boomse tiles were, according to Roger, of great importance for basic health.
Results and References
Unfortunately, due to health issues, Roger was no longer able to list the individual performances of the pigeons. However, interested bidders and buyers can certainly find this information. In broad strokes, the following important victories were achieved in recent years:
1st provincial Lourdes
1st provincial Perpignan
1st provincial Bourges yearlings
1st provincial Bourges old
1st provincial Limoges yearlings
1st provincial Tulle yearlings
6th national ace pigeon 2022 long-distance yearlings
Several second, third, and other early prizes in the national top 10!
The 6330401/05 won 3rd provincial and 6th national Bourges. Roger had candidate buyers, but did not act on this. He placed it in the breeding loft with the expected result: this standout became the absolute founding father and produced several top racers. It was the father of, among others, a 1st zonal and grandfather of the 2nd national Bourges. This line is still present.
Several enthusiasts have also succeeded with Roger's pigeons. Not least among them: for example, Van Hove-Uytterhoeven had "Miss Sharapova" 6294249/09, the mother of the 1st national Valence, also the grandmother of the 1st national Limoges, and produced several champion pigeons! Furthermore, Etienne Everaert, Mario Vincke (NL), and Walter Roziers also succeeded with pigeons from Roger Keynen.
