Herbots | Team Baetens - Sint Niklaas: 1st National Sancoins 12,962 yearbirds.

It must be a thrill to know that "now" is the moment to clock up if you want to compete for the national victory and then to see 2 pigeons storming side by side towards the boards. This happened to Ivan Baetens from St . Niklaas. Ivan, owner of the electronic detection system Bricon, does not really realise what happens to him when we visit him. For years he has been looking for that national victory and now he adds 2 wins at the same time to his already impressive record. It is only given to the greats in our pigeon sport and Team Baetens is definitely one of them!

"The Super"...fastest of 22,711 Sancoins racers.

"The Super"...it is he who wins the sprint, beating his loftmate by a good 10 seconds. Not only does he win in his category against 12,962 yearling birds, he is also the fastest of the entire Sancoins bunch.
"The Super"...a name he was already pinned on as a young pigeon because as a young pigeon he was anything but shy to beat top performances out of his wings, last season he won a.o:
3rd Prov. ace pigeon KBDB All-round young birds
4th Prov. Chateauroux 1,817d. - 40th National 13,852b.
10th Provincial Orleans 5,949b.
42nd Provincial Bourges 4,988 youngsters

And then this season it exactly did not want to succeed. Until boss Ivan mothballed that his hen showed no interest in him. Also when Ivan showed the hens on basketing day from Sancoins, he immediately saw that there were no "sparks" between the two. Ivan promptly took his hen away and put another hen, which had been without a cock for several weeks, with "De Super". It clicked and apparently this was the motivation to go to extremes.

"B22-4028282" wins against 9,749 old birds

With a difference of 10 seconds to the clocking time of "The Super", hen "282-22" registered and thus showed the 9,749 old Sancoins racers her tail.
"This hen has always been a good per 10 flyer" Ivan begins his story about this national winner "not a real topper, but still a regular. She is a half sister to the 3rd National ace KBDB Great Half-Fond old 2022 and a full sister to the 19th National ace All-round KBDB 2022. "

Widowers

Ivan continues enthusiastically "At the beginning of December they were paired, simultaneously with the breeders, and you probably feel it coming, indeed the eggs of the breeders were underlaid with the cocks. For that reason, the widowers and their hens were exposed just like the breeders so that there was simultaneous laying in both groups. Only the best widowers are allowed to raise their own young. Once the youngsters were about 20 days old, both the youngsters and the hens were removed from the widower loft and the cocks moved to the adjacent aviary. Thanks to the wind netting, the cocks are protected day and night. During this period, they receive clean water and as feed 50% Gerry Plus I.C. and 50% purification. In mid-February, the widowers returned to their loft and were allowed to start their first training sessions around the loft. The menu was changed to 100% Gerry Plus I.C..
They were paired back on 11/03 and once the first pair had been breeding for 10 days, all hens were taken from the loft. On 18/03, they received a 6-day tricho treatment via water.
At the end of March, there was a parathyphoid treatment. This year they were vaccinated by vet Ruben Lanckriet with a combination vaccine. The other years they were vaccinated via drinking water. We changed methods because we want to create a boost in (basic) condition. Against ornithosis, vaccination is never done before the start of the season, unless the vet judges otherwise. It so happens that vet Lanckriet will come for a check-up every 2-3 weeks during the season and if he does find something wrong then treatment will be done in consultation.
The 12 old and the 34 year-old widowers are on 1 long loft with 4 sections. The widowers are not darkened before the season. I think it is breed-related, but with us it is no exception that our cocks are still on 8 pens in August. In good weather, the first learning flights take place. Via Quievrain (90km) it goes via 3 x Noyon (195km) towards middle distance. The 2nd weekend of May a provincial Orleans flight is scheduled and on this flight they will go anyway. Afterwards, the troops will be divided and each will fly its own programme. For the old widowers that is day long distance and for the yearling widowers large middle distance combined with long distance."

Widowers during the season

"Upon returning home, we immediately work on recovery. We work a lot with veterinarian Ruben Lanckriet's by-products. On returning home (Saturday) they are given a "recovery pill" and proteins go over the feed. Various sugars and BS (Belgica-de Weerd) go into the drinking water. The first feed after returning home is full of Champion Plus IC.
On Sunday, the first feed again consists of Champion Plus IC + proteins and the second feed is ½ Champion Plus IC and ½ Gerry Plus IC.
From Monday it is 100% Gerry Plus I.C. . Only the last 5 feeds are fed 100% Champion Plus IC. This mixture is enriched with Peanuts, hulled sunflower seeds, candy, etc....
The widowers train twice a day and are fed twice a day. Both feeding and drinking are communal.
Before basketing, the partner is always shown briefly."

Hens

Ivan continues unperturbed: "The 40 old and 43 yearling hens are prepared for the season in various ways. The 16 best hens are paired against our best breeders (bull method) at the beginning of December and lay twice. These eggs are always shifted among other couples.

A 2nd group is paired on different dates and their eggs are replaced with the breeders' eggs. By acting this way, we quickly have several rounds of our breeders.

On 11/03, all hens are then paired back with their partners and allowed to breed again for a few days. So our best hens have already laid 3 times before the start of the season. Experience has taught us that this has no influence on the condition during the season.
Unlike the cocks, the hens are darkened and this during the first 2 weeks of April. Two weeks of darkening, whether this really makes such a difference? Well yes... you should know that we play our hens on widowhood until mid-August and then those 2 weeks of darkening really prove their worth.
The hens fly the heavy middle-distance and long-distance flights. Like the widowers, the ladies train twice a day and are fed twice a day. During the day, they live in special small living boxes. After their training, they are first allowed to eat and pick up some fresh grit and then they are confined to their living boxes where they can drink. The hens are divided over 4 lofts. Those are 2 lofts to the left of the 4 widowers' departments and 2 to the right of them.
In terms of feed, by-products and medical supervision, this is the same working pattern as for the widowers. When the hens are fed, we always watch the eagerness with which they eat. When this decreases, the table is usually cleared.
When basketing, the hens get their cock for 30 minutes. Only for speed races the cock is half-baked. For the other races, they can do as they please. After the race, they stay together for about 2 hours. Both our widowers and our hens train on the day of basketing and if they don't feel like training, we even dare to rake them at 80 km. Good training stimulates the appetite and that is important."