Rik Cools (Ruiselede) a very strong breeding loft and ditto references and results !

It is not always easy to characterize someone and his pigeons in a short slogan. This is also the case with Rik Cools. His loft and his pigeons have been known for a long time for their very strong breeding base, his very strong and regular performances and on top of that, a laundry list of references of players who have successfully fed from the source in Ruiselede.
Summing all that up in one sentence is not so easy. Especially since it is the sum of a lot of efforts and a lot of steerage.
An overview of the top rankings and ace pigeons in this colony would lead us very far. As an illustration a short overview of the last 2 seasons:

Highlights 2024
2nd champion IWV small middle distance youngsters
3rd champion Belgium KBDB small middle distance youngsters
7th provincial ace KBDB small middle distance youngsters
12th national ace KBDB small middle distance youngsters
10th provincial ace pigeon KBDB small middle distance youngsters
11th KBDB provincial ace pigeon long-distance old birds
1st champion club small middle distance youngsters
14 first prizes (without doubles)

Highlights 2023
1st Argenton pigeon 2022-2023 P-ranking
3rd national ace KBDB small middle distance old birds
6th national ace KBDB middle distance old birds
7th national champion KBDB small middle distance old and yearling pigeons
7th Olympiad pigeon 2024 Category Sport H- Belgium
2nd champion IWV yearlings
1st champion club large middle distance old birds
1st champion club great middle distance yearlings
1st ace pigeon club great middle distance old pigeons
2nd ace pigeon club long-distance pigeons

Rik therefore has annual rendezvous on the podiums of the provincial and national championships.

Pioneer with the hens

Rik went through a lot of pigeon courses as a young guy to get to where he is today. Pure passion that turned into hobby, playing the long distance with results, to evolve into a pioneer specialist in the game with hens.
What has become common in today's pigeon sport, namely getting top results with hens, Rik had already mastered for a long time. Inspired and informed by a colleague in the school, Rik was for many years the terror of the region, the province and also nationally to roll up races on speed and middle distance with hens on widowhood.  The pigeon hierarchy sometimes looked down upon those who started with widowhood hens...but these glances were quickly silenced by top results in a frequency higher than the play with cocks.  Many followed this path afterwards !

All this did not escape the toppers of that period and this was copied with pleasure and with success by many.  
At that time, Rik and his hens also became an attraction for many top players with cocks to breed together or to cross hens with results.

A very strong breeding loft
Since Rik achieved some very good results with some pigeons from the then world-famous colony of Gaby Vandenabeele, he went a step further and started breeding together with unparalleled success. Many toppers came out of this fruitful cooperation.
This was actually the basis of the strain of pigeons that Rik still has. The old strain, as Rik describes them, is the Schone Bliksem and in a further line Christa (Chris Debacker).  In order not to dishonor others, there are a number of other well-known names woven into this strain, but the common thread in all this is the pigeons mentioned above.
In a later phase, pigeons from Luc & Hilde Sioen and Willem De Bruijn were also successfully introduced.  The flights on which Rik focuses are the speed but especially the middle-distance and heavy middle-distance flights.
Since several years there is a very successful cooperation with Chris Debacker (Beveren-Leie).  Both Chris and Rik have their own breeding loft. Every year about 25 pigeons move back and forth. The principle is to try to transfer ready-to-breed young cocks from Rik to Chris and vice versa about 25 hens from Chris to Rik.
This has proven to be a successful formula from which a series of top pigeons (up to national winners) have been born.
Wonder hen Christa (daughter of Schone Bliksem) is the basis of a whole series of top pigeons with Chris Debacker and with Rik Cools.
We quote from a recent publication about the loft of Chris Debacker and the construction of his strain:
“Breeder Nick (out of 2 pigeons by Rik Cools from Kleinzoon Bliksem x Emma as father and Inbred Bont Nijlen x Rik Cools as mother) is the actual base pigeon of the current colony. 4 grandsons out of Nick have their place in the breeding loft and another grandson resides with Rik Cools (and already father of 1st nat ace pigeon). These 4 grandsons out of Nick are each time coupled with another hen.
These grandsons (half-brothers) are coupled with 5 sisters out of Georges (Georges Soenens) x Mieke (Rik Cools x Chris Debacker) who flow through the colony as another golden vein. In summary : the children of “Salomez” with “Zanine” coupled with children of “Mieke” with “Georges” give a great progeny”.

These names of stock pigeons can be found in almost every well performing pigeon. In a more recent phase we find Giuseppe (BE21-3076655) of Chris Debacker out of this line. This Giuseppe has everything to become the next top breeding pigeon.

Giuseppe won
1st national ace KBDB middle distance 2021
1st provincial ace KBDB middle distance 2021

References galore

The feeling that others succeed with your pigeons is a nice reward for all your own efforts. Achieving results yourself is more than likely the ultimate goal for Rik (“the shirt is closer than the pants”) but the fact that others play top with pigeons of your breeding strain is a powerful motivator to continue in the same way. This has been the case with Rik for years. It already dates from the successful cooperation with Gaby Vandenabeele (the mother of the world famous Rudy was an hen of Rik) that this has taken an even higher flight. We quote a few names :

Chris Debacker (a continuing successful cooperation)
Gaby Vandenabeele
Leo & Gerry Dockx
Filip & Nicolas Norman
Combinatie Van Wanrooij
Marnick De Neve
Geert Dhaenens
Rudi De Saer
Tom Van Gaver
Theo Weytjens
Guy Van der Auwera
Luc De Laere
Jan Pappens
Rino Verheye
Patrick & Dimitri Houfflijn
Team De Jaeger
Gevaert-Lannoo
Benny Steveninck
Anthony Maes
Bert Vanden Berghe
Ronny Menten
Foppe Vander Meer
Gino Clicque
Peter Van de Merwe
David Vermassen
Saïd Chadi

…..

More than conclusive proof that quality resides in Rik's lofts. To refresh the recent memory two very nice references 2024 :

- Leo & Gerry Dockx
 Zonaalke BE22-6120799 : 7th national of 16.547 pigeons and 1st zonal of 2.753 pigeons on Argenton (mother is full sister of Giuseppe)

Amelie BE23-6076428 : 1st national 17,666 pigeons Argenton (father of Amelie is son of brother Tarzan. Tarzan came out of 2 Cools pigeons and was himself 1st national ace KBDB with Dockx in 2014)

- Chris Debacker
Iseppe BE23-3064110
1st Bourges 1,366 d / 20th national 9,654 d
3rd Chateaudun 196d / 49th provincial 5,161 dd
41st Toury 7,756 b
49th Chateaudun 5,161 d
 88th Fontenay 5,728 d

Iseppe was born with Chris Debacker and flew with Rik

Herman BE22-3064807 : 13th national ace KBDB 2024

Some home gardening facts about grooming

The start of the 2024 season went heavily into disrepair. The colony with yearling and old hens was plagued daily in the spring by attacks by birds of prey. No less than 25 hens were gone because of this (daily 1 or 2 hens from the training team were picked away by the birds of prey). Close to despair, a few more races were completed with these pigeons, but the terror was in the remaining team and the pigeons trained with terror and never got into a calm form. These hens train twice a day for 40 to 45 minutes. The duration of this training is for Rik the barometer of condition/forme. In 2024 this was not the case and against force majeure there is little to do. By necessity, the focus was shifted to the youngsters (and with success).
About 120 youngsters were weaned from the 1st and 2nd rounds (the pigeons are paired at the end of November). They are darkened from mid-March until the longest day and are also lighted afterwards. The youngsters are vaccinated twice paramyxo-rota, once paratyphoid and smallpox.  In the fall, all pigeons are vaccinated again paramyxo and paratyphoid. This team normally trains twice a day and is played on the sliding door. The feed is integrally Beyers. For the youngsters this is in the weaning phase ½ moulting and ½ breeding for 2 weeks, afterwards ½ Vandenabeele and ½ moulting, to switch to 100% Vandenabeele in a later phase.  Feeding is done with some candy food and fine seeds. As by-products, Rik is quite loyal to the Röhnfried products.
The training of the youngsters is for the most part taken care of by Rik's wife, Mieke, who teaches the pigeons the way to France +/- 20 times with her own transport. Mieke is also in charge of the administrative part of the pigeon sport and enjoying this hobby together is familial as well.

Some pigeons in the focus

By way of conclusion we put three pigeons in focus :

- Guusje BE21-3076737

Is a hen with a very strong record including 1st Chateauroux. She is a breeding product from the pigeons of Luc & Hilde Sioen (De Bruijn x Hermans) and from the mother side a 100% Willem De Bruijn pigeon. 

- Julia BE24-3005019

Expected the best for the season to come with a 1st prize at Clermont. She is the breeding product of a lot of noble blood with on fathers side Pascal (co-breeding with the loft of Kaier line Armando x Feline of Rik). Along mother's side she is the product of Sarah who is one of the many strongly inherited descendants of the top couple Georges & Mieke. 

- Juliette BE24-30038557 

Flew 2 x 1st Orleans and 2nd Chateaudun, and classed nicely in the provincial ace pigeons. Along fathers side a cross Anthony Maes x Verschoot and along mothers side Staf and Bonte Provinciaal (or the line of the Bonte Crack of Anthony Maes). 

The conversation with Rik clearly shows that Rik has a lot of experience in pigeon racing. He is also always very alert concerning new trends that present themselves....but notes that a lot of these trends die rather quickly after being tested. That is why his credo is based on a number of basic principles such as...a strong breeding base from proven pigeons, keeping the pigeons as close as possible to nature in order not to make them weak, a close follow-up by the veterinarian, which does not mean that a lot of medication is used, far from it...Also a healthy discipline in care ensures more chances of success.

Did we learn much new during this visit? Not really....everything can be reduced rather quickly to the real basics what pigeon racing is all about, i.e. quality linked to commitment and feeling.  This has been the case with Rik for years now and with the current basis and results we don't see this changing any time soon. 

Many have already successfully fed on the good breeding source in Ruiselede and this will undoubtedly be the case in the future.

All success from the Herbots team !

Geert Dhaenens

At this moment Rik offers on internet auction Pigeon Bids a magnificent group of 2024- pigeons 

This internet auction ends Tuesday November 26 at 3 p.m. (c.e.t.)