Kris Boeykens (Buggenhout) wins 1st Provincial Argenton East Flanders against 4.147 yearlings

Buggenhout - Kris Boeykens achieved the top provincial position in the national race from Argenton among the yearlings in East Flanders, competing against 4.147 pigeons.

Colony
"I learned the tricks of the trade from Jozef Boeman, my mentor, advisor, and father figure. He provided me with good pigeons, and I could always rely on him for advice and support. He achieved multiple provincial victories in the national races and, unfortunately, passed away too soon in 2008," begins Kris. 
"Since then, Koen Stevens from Serskamp has been my advisor and a very good pigeon friend. Koen's pigeons perfectly matched the Boeman breed, and we achieved excellent results in speed and small middle-distance races. Nowadays, the majority of my pigeon stock comes from Koen and Kelly Stevens. If things go poorly, I can always count on their good advice and support."

"When I switched to national races, it turned out that the cross of speed pigeons and the Boeman breed was limited to a distance of up to 350 km. Therefore, I turned to Koen and Kelly Stevens again, and we further integrated the breeds of Geert van Roy, Gustaaf and Jan De Bisschop, and Gevaert-Lannoo, which yielded good results in combination with Koen's and Boeman's pigeons. With these pigeons, I am currently working towards the future for the national races," says Kris.

System
"Since last year, I changed my approach from widowhood with only cocks to total widowhood with both cocks and hens. I am now trying to build a team to compete in national heavy middle-distance races. Until a few years ago, my focus was on small middle-distance races, and we achieved good performances there," explains Kris. 

"My youngsters are only well-trained. The first round flew several national races last year, the second round only Toury, and the third round only Noyon. Everything was carried through, and they are now raced and selected as yearlings. The pigeons have not yet nested or paired up during the winter and are kept loose next to each other. Upon returning home, they are put together from training until the next morning to try to form pairs. This is sometimes called a sort of chaos system."
"We are now also breeding fewer youngsters, and the breeding stock has been halved compared to a few years ago. But I can race with twice as many old and yearling pigeons as before and keep fewer pigeons. There is still some tweaking to be done with this system; I am not completely satisfied yet."

"Last year, the hens also performed well in their first year of total widowhood. I have kept 10 yearlings from last year, all of which flew at least 70% prizes (and more) with many top prizes. The team started well in the first weeks this year, and they returned home quickly and together. After the first Toury, where the pigeons were brought back to Ecouen and released there at noon in questionable weather, things started to go wrong. Vierzon provincially was bad with several losses, including my best old hen, which lowered my motivation. As a result, I skipped Bourges national and let the pigeons fly Toury. Last week, they were brought back from Toury again, but now they have recovered well. Hopefully, they have regained their good form, and the performances can continue. We will see and assess week by week," concludes Kris.

Results this year:
6/4/24 Noyon:
454 old: 7, 31 and 14/34
228 yearlings: 8, 12 and 11/22
13/4/24 Noyon:
914 old: 13, 14, 15, 16 and 30/65
474 yearlings: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 23/53
27/4/24 Ecouen:
841 old: 2, 4, 9 and 35/53
393 yearlings: 3, 5, 8, 9 and 26/41
11/5/24 Noyon:
413 old: 26, 27, 30 and 42/64
243 yearlings: 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 and 33/52
19/5/24 Vierzon:
329 old: 22, 29 and 5/12
326 yearlings: 12/52
25/5/24 Toury:
794 old: 1, 14, 20 and 30/44
399 yearlings: 1, 11, 15, 16 and 23/33
8/6/24 Argenton 
Local:
274 old: 3, 4, 6, 24, 26, 33, 68, 91 and 8/10
234 yearlings: 1, 3, 4, 14, 22, 32, 33, 55, 60, 70 and 10/22
Provincial: 
3.361 old: 97, 98
4.147 yearlings: 1, 9, 53
National: 
17.673 yearlings: 16, 54, 316

"Nadine"
After a second place provincial in Bourges among the yearlings in 2019, Kris now finally won provincial Argenton 2024. The winning pigeon, BE23-4078609, is a blue hen and she was named 'Nadine', named after his wife. 
This provincial win also translated into a 16th place nationally against 17.673b.

Kris had a second early pigeon with 4078112/23, which flew 9th provincially and 54th nationally on the same flight. This one is a cross: father Boeman and mother "sister Twiggy" from Gevaert-Lannoo.

Descendancy "Nadine"
"Nadine" was bred from a direct pigeon of Engels Jules and Yves, one of their basic pigeons called 'Tom'. Kris got this pigeon from Koen and Kelly Stevens from Serskamp, after they got rid of their middle-distance pigeons and started focusing on long-distance and heavy-distance. 
On the Pigeon Bids of Jules & Yves Engels at Herbots, Kris later bought the following pigeons: 
Daughter TOM 700/19 (mother "Nadine")
Sister Olympic Sofia (grandmother "Nadine").

The father of the "Nadine" was bred together with his base pigeon "Balotelli", also 100% Boeman Jozef, and a hen of Koen and Kelly Stevens, namely a full sister of the Olympic pigeon "Olympic Sofia", which was bought by Herbots and has a permanent place in the breeding boxes there.

Kris, congratulations again on your provincial win from the entire Herbots team!

Maarten Herbots