Luc De Laere (Anzegem) takes his 52nd provincial victory at Bourges III!

Anzegem - Last weekend it was party time again at the De Laere home. The passionate fancier from Anzegem secured his 3rd provincial victory of this season, this time on Bourges III for young birds. This brings his impressive total to no less than 52 provincial victories. An achievement of stature for which we warmly congratulate Luc!

Miss Bourges  

The winning pigeon, "Miss Bourges" (BE24-3049977), performed brilliantly by arriving first out of a group of no less than 5,074 youngsters in the province of West Flanders. With a large lead of more than 9 minutes, she was the fastest pigeon in Luc's loft. At national level, "Miss Bourges" achieved a very creditable 117th place against no less than 26,549 youngsters. An impressive performance!

"Miss Bourges" has already shown what she is capable of with, among others, the following performances:
10th Pontoise against 425 youngsters
11th Clermont against 486 youngsters

Luc shares his story behind this win: "The BE24-3049977 went into the basket as the 4th drawn, after she had already shown several times that she has potential. She came perfectly from the right direction, but due to the presence of birds of prey over the loft, she made three more big rounds. Fortunately, she fell on the shelf and came in quickly, probably out of fright. Whew, she was in! We've seen it differently here with all the screeching in the sky. That's just the way it is when you live close to forests.... a real plague, as a songbird is becoming increasingly rare here."

Pedigree  

The impressive performance of "Miss Bourges" does not come from nowhere. Her father, "De Fideel", was a true 'super' on the races. He is a half-brother of the famous super flyer and top breeder "Sproet Tieke" (click here for additional info on "Sproet Tieke"). Her mother, given her excellent pedigree, was put straight into breeding.

What happens in the loft?  

In Luc's loft, the sexes stay together throughout the season, meaning the pigeons can mate, build a nest or simply return to their perches. Luc believes this makes little difference as long as the pigeons are healthy and of good quality. Like many other fanciers, there are losses among the youngsters, but what remains has more room and hopefully enough quality to perform.

Nutrition & supplements  

Nutrition at the loft is consistent and consists of Beyers Youngsters, a mixture that has proven its worth for years. Luc exclusively uses by-products from Röhnfried, which have also proven their value for years. On their arrival home, the pigeons are given BT Amin Forte and Rotasal in the water. Once most of the pigeons are home, the feed is moistened with Gervit-W, UsneGano and minerals, and then dried with K+K Protein. Four days a week, the pigeons get Carni-Speed in the water, with two days of Hexenbier and one day of Gervit-W. The day after returning home, the youngsters are given a yellow drip in each nostril, which also gives Luc the opportunity to check their weight.

Training  

From the moment the race with the old pigeons is over, the youngsters are trained twice a day for 40-45 minutes. Luc makes sure all pigeons have to leave the loft to train, which he achieves by tapping with a stick. Even the few pigeons that have a nest have to join in. Because all the youngsters train together, this saves considerable time.

Luc concludes

"Hopefully we can finish the rest of the season under favourable weather conditions and the pigeons can be released early in the morning. This season we have not really been spoilt in that respect. We are looking forward to next weekend."
The whole Herbots team wishes Luc heartfelt congratulations on this brilliant victory and we eagerly await his next success!

Maarten Herbots