GERARD EN PIET LINDELAUF – VIJLEN (NL)

Vijlen ... also known as the mountain village of the Netherlands. The beautiful views invite many cyclists and hikers to spend a few days here. It goes without saying ... in Vijlen one can still enjoy the extremely beautiful nature. Talking about enjoyment ... in the international pigeon fanciers circles, Vijlen is particularly known thanks to the sublime pigeon performances of the father/son duo Gerard and Piet Lindelauf. The performances that have already dropped from the sky have seldom been seen and season 2018 was one to remember as well. As many as 7 x 1st prizes against an average of 5,240 pigeons were clocked and of the 340 entries 88 pigeons got their ring number per hundred mentioned in the ranking. In other words 26% of the prizes were clocked per hundred! This is yet another proof that the Hilleshagerweg in Vijlen houses more than class.

WHEN WINNING IS IN THE GENES

Those who have been following the Lindelauf colony for a while, know that this champions colony has its base with the famous Jackson Brothers (Northampton). Their fabled strain of Janssen pigeons - also known as "Geeloger dynasty" - reigned over a period of nearly twenty years. "Our strain finds its roots in 1986" Piet begins his story "when we got the noble Janssens blood through Hans De Zwart from Steenwijk. Almost all pigeons descended from the "Oude Geeloger" and the "Merckx". Crossbreeding with top racers or breeders that were obtained, led to our own tight-knit strain, the first fruits of which we picked in 1994. The birth year of ' Wonderboy ', which as a yearling won 1st prizes against 11,500 b., 5,274 b. and 847 birds for us.. His father had already won 1st prizes against 29.290 b. and 16,308 birds. So, a line of winners so and ' Wonderboy ' turned out to be able to pass his gift on to new generations of toppers fairly easily. His first two children instantly won the car race from Provins (1st and 2nd against 4,951 birds) in 1996. Children and grandchildren won first and top prizes galore. His grandson "the miracle", for example, was winner of several first prizes and was 1st national in 2002. ACE pigeon Vitesse crowned. His sons were formidable winners and one son even made national ACE pigeon in Germany in 2007.

In 2008 Gerard and Piet decided to put all pigeons up for sale. For the Limburg champions it was the end of an era, but also a new beginning ... of which in 2010 the class of the Golden bloodlines gradually came seeping through again with some exceptional talents in the flying lofts. The youngsters that were kept in 2008 served to guarantee a future with new achievements, all descended from the legendary basis. the basic pigeons were crossbred with great success against the newly inserted pigeons including Lei Wolters from Posterholt, Brauwers from Grevenbricht, Gerard Koopman from Ermerveen and some individual pigeons from well-known European fanciers. They also like to recover birds from their original strain from fanciers who achieved great successes with them. The crossbreeding of Vandenabeele pigeons (line Rudy) of the German SG Kröger-Schumacher from Dinklage with their own tribe turns out to be a huge success. The very best pigeons from this kind of crossbreeding are coupled back with a pigeon from their base. Through inbreeding, line breeding and family breeding, they make sure that their basic pigeons always remain over 75 % of the original blood and this is currently half of their breeding loft with 22 couples. That is how they have been doing it since 1986, without any dips, I might add. Sometimes there do not appear to be any limits.

DOUBLE WIDOWHOOD

All those years, it were the cocks that were played in widowhood that excelled, but Piet kept wondering whether the well-performing young hens would not be successful als old pigeons as well. That is why in 2010 he decided to compete with hens at to the start of the old pigeon season as well. Currently, they are flying about 25 couples on total widowhood. The cocks are sitting in the three divisions and next to that is a department for the hens. The latter are sitting on shelves. They are coupled the first week of January and the eggs of the breeding pigeons are diverted to the racing pigeons. After about 16 to 18 days, the hen with a chick goes to the hens department and one chick stays with the cock. Afterwards start the widowhood period.

Mid March, weather permitting, the first trainings take place. During the first two weeks of the season, the pigeons are driven extra. Each group is released individually and when they return home, they are allowed to be together in order to get to know the game of total widowhood. At the first five flights the sexes are allowed a short time together before basketing and after the flight they get ample time to even half a day. After the fifth flight they do not come together before basketing anymore and are taken directly out of the box or off the shelf. After returning home they are allowed be together again. They try to basket the pigeons as calmly as possible. "In fact, we have never noticed any difference in display" Piet says. "Not even that the hens perform better than the cocks, rather that some hens are ahead in a flight e.g. or vice versa, but the opponents follow rather quickly."

ATTACH IMPORTANCE TO THE LOFT

When they moved into the current building at Hilleshagerweg, that used to serve as a farmhouse for the previous owner, in 1997, there was ample space above the pigsty to build lofts. Given the large room that was difficult to climatize, they took the necessary measures to obtain the best possible environment. On the north side of the roof, for example, that is covered with corrugated sheets, they have installed roofboarding made out of 5 cm of tempex up to the ridge. A few transparent sheets provide the necessary light. The front of the loft has been covered with roof tiles in which a skylight of about 40 cm has been installed over the full length of the loft, including a few glass roof tiles. At the back of the attic (north side) they have built a wide breeding pen with a 1 x 4 meter large coop. In the front part of the attic, there are the flying pens with four departments. Three for the widowers and one for the widow hens. In the hens pen, the floor has a grid which is now largely covered with a plate. Only on two sides, the grid is free for ca. 20 cm. The plate on the floor was to prevent too much dust from spreading. The flying lofts actually do not have a fixed part in the ceiling. It has slides made of wood and polyester plates. They can manipulate these if the weather calls for it. Light, dark and heat (sun and hot plate) are played with during the season to obtain an optimal climate. In dark weather, a lamp is on in the racing pigeons pen during the day as well. Everything is controlled by a time clock. In the spacious garden there is a garden shed for the youngsters. Here, the floor of one part is provided with a fixed floor whereas the remaining department and coops are equipped with grids. The young birds are weaned on the floor and once they take to the shelves, they are moved to the department with grids. Both lofts shack up suffice greatly and the pigeons have been flying in champion style since their construction.

TOP SEASON 2018

As mentioned, the season 2018 is one to remember. The results list are really impressive and much too long to be published. Nevertheless, we do not want to withhold you the following 10 results:

14/04/2018 – Charleville (146km)-18,851 b.

4-5-6-7-8-29-30-34-37-38-39-60-68-101-105-108-109-112 etc. (31/36)

21/04/2018 – Rethel (181 km) – 19,560 b.

1-5-6-7-22-23-24-26-32-46-95-98-117-120-127-131-156 etc. (29/35)

28/04/2018 – Reims (220 km) – 3,813 b.

1-2-3-4-5-7-80-81-103-124-138-147-183-200 etc. (29/34)

06/05/2018 – Sezanne (281km) – 2,156 b.

1-2-10-26-28-44-57-68-118-121-127 etc. (20/33)

12/05/2018 – Sens (346 km) – 3,723 b.

1-2-30-51-57-58-59-60-104-105-189-191-204 etc. (23/31)

19/05/2018 - Lorris (409 km) - 16,471 b.

3-5-28-61-97-100-190-233-282-283 etc. (17/18)

26/05/2018 – Rethel (181 km) – 1,080 b.

1-2-7-9-24-26-30-33-47-55-57 etc. (24/29)

29/07/2018 - Rethel (181km) - 3,585 b.

1-6-7-8-9-10-12-15-111-117-123-127-137 etc. (29/48)

05/08/2018 - Rethel (181km) - 9,436 b.

3-4-8-11-12-13-14-48-50-51-56-58-59-77-80-81-83 etc. (36/46)

01/09/2018 – Gien (420 km) – 2,778 b.

1-4-13-32-49-82-60-69-70 etc. (17/31)

Piet and Gerard were 1st loft champion speed against 250 members and 1st loft champion middle distance against 120 members.

UNBELIEVABLE BUT TRUE ....

THE COMPLETE FLYING TEAM (EXCL. YOUNGSTERS 2018) IS NOW FOR SALE ONLINE ON PIGEON BIDS. NO CHILDREN OF BUT THE TOP BIRDS THEMSELVES ARE NOW AT YOUR FINGERTIPS!
TOP BIRDS ARE BORN OUT OF TOP BIRDS, SO DO NOT MISS THIS OPPORTUNITY TO ENFORCE YOUR BREEDING PEN!

THIS SALE ENDS TUESDAY 23 OCTOBER AT 2 PM!