After nearly half a century of high-level pigeon sport, the curtain falls on Roger Weyn's colony. A loft of proven distance flyers, carefully built around the super foundation mother, directly from Luc Van Coppenolle, supplemented with top performers from Marcel Lareys, Yvan Haelters, Raf Luycks, and Roger Meyvaert.
Roger (77) started his adventure in pigeon sport 45 years ago: “My father raced with pigeons on short flights up to 100km. But he had little patience, so I started myself in ’78. Initially also in sprints, but later I switched to the heavy distance. Our current loft is mainly composed of pigeons we obtained in 2008 from Luc Van Coppenolle in Ouwegem. If you look at our pedigrees, you always see a purple box: that is actually the foundation mother of our colony, further supplemented with pigeons from Lareys Marcel, Yvan Haelters, Luycks Raf, Meyvaert Roger…”
The pigeon game in the Tuinlaan in Vrasene only starts at 700km. In 2005, due to a serious illness, Roger put the pigeon sport on a low flame and sold most of the pigeons. When things improved a bit with his health in 2008, Roger went to get pigeons from Luc Van Coppenolle in Ouwegem, and this immediately proved to be a hit, with some achievements a few years later:
* “The Marseille”: this pigeon won several honors from 2013 to 2017, with the highlight being 1st provincial – 8th national Marseille 2017.
* The Golden Ring: this pigeon from 2010 won the Golden Ring big distance twice at the Golden Rings of Waasland and had impressive results from Valence over Marseille to Perpignan.
* In 2012, “The Barcelona” was bred from the foundation mother (4273230/2008). This distance flyer participated in the most beautiful flight with regional placements of 1st, 2nd, 19th, and 24th.
* In 2014, the 525/14 was born from the foundation line, achieving many beautiful prizes including standout performances like 1st Perpignan in 2017.
* In 2018, brothers ‘136/18’ and ‘137/18’ were born, again from the foundation mother 4273230/2008, directly from Luc Van Coppenolle. These brothers had a significant impact in the Weyn household over the last few years, with the “Nachtvlieger” (137/18) becoming the best bird in the flying category in the 2021 season. He got this name because he clocked in at 4 AM on two occasions.
A year later, his nest brother ‘136/18’ repeated this feat to also become the best bird in the flying category in 2022.
With only 5 to 6 breeding pairs, no mass of pigeons was ever bred, not even early youngsters. Pairing only took place at the end of May, and last year only 22 young pigeons were set aside. The races were played with about 20 widowhood males and just as many racing hens. Roger was clearly a man of few frills: no darkening, no extra light, traditional widowhood with the old pigeons, no motivation for the young pigeons, and only training to Quiévrain (+/- 100km). In terms of feeding, just a sport mixture and a visit to veterinarian Van Damme in Berlare once a year for the mandatory vaccination.
Due to health issues for Roger, his father and son Weyn are now forced to sell the pigeons on medical advice, with a heavy heart. Foundation mother 4273230/2008 will not be moved anymore due to her advanced age and will therefore also not be auctioned.