HENRY-BLANC from Colfontaine, winner of the Vierzon interprovincial (Y) and fastest of 9,242 pigeons.

On Saturday 18 May, the tandem HENRY-BLANC won the 1st prize Vierzon interprovincial against 3,109 yearling pigeons, also the highest speed (1238.24 m/m) of the 9,242 Vierzon racers with their checquer cock BE23-1089158.

Colfontaine, located in the Borinage region, is home to Jean-François HENRY (53y., employee at Colruyt) and his wife Brigitte BLANC, who together form the combination HENRY-BLANC and whose favourite discipline is the great middle distance races. 
Since childhood, Jean-François has had a passion for animals and kept a few pigeons in a garden shed. When he decided to enter competitions, it was anything but successful. The turning point came when he met Marc Capelle (a great champion who won several speed titles including 1st National ace pigeon speed KBDB). Marc gave him advice and quality pigeons. Over the years, Roger Detant, Patrick Lepoivre, Michel Hovens, Tom Van Gaver, Gaston Van de Wouwer, Laurent Colsoulle and David Flasse have been added as original pigeons and in the last 2 years there have also been exchanges with Andres Saelens.
This is a very small colony, as Jean-François HENRY has 10 breeding couples and 30 racers (8 old and 22 yearlings). The 8 old are raced according to the classic widowhood method, but the yearlings are single because there are not enough hens available. The yearlings are therefore in a loft with only youngsters' boxes.
At basketing, the old birds get to see their hens anyway, but with the yearlings there is little motivation. Sometimes when basketing, a few hens are thrown into the group but nothing more. As for feeding, the last five feedings are always very energy-rich. The widowers eat in a common bowl that is constantly available. Vitamins (Röhnfried) and electrolytes (Vincent Schroeder) are also given during the week. On basketing day, the water is always clear.
The 8 old widowers are paired a first time in December (at the same time as the breeders), raise 2 youngsters and are paired a second time in March, to start widowhood after 5 days of incubation. Training is done once a day, during the afternoon.  Each year, 60 youngsters are ringed and played only on speed.
At the beginning of the season, the pigeons are vaccinated against paramyxovirosis, parathyphosis, smallpox and rotavirus (youngsters) by veterinarian Emiel Demeester (Izegem), who also checks the colony during the competition period. 

Despite the small racing team, the quality is more than present and this is shown by the results achieved by another pigeon: " Waldico " (BE19-1130351), 3rd Ace National Great middle distance KBDB old 2023, this is a real crack with 5 x top 100 National on Bourges/Argenton and undoubtedly one of the best pigeons in Belgium on Bourges in recent years. " Waldico " is currently in the breeding loft. A yes... the winner from Vierzon is a grandson of Waldico. 

Congratulations on behalf of Team 'Herbots' with this beautiful victory.

Bernard Henry