Team Baetens (Temse) Super successful with the golden breeding lines of “Rax”.

St. Niklaas: For this report we drive to St. Niklaas where we are lucky that, despite the full bustle in the Bricon buildings, owner Ivan Baetens can make time for us. The purpose of our conversation is to explain the ins and outs behind this successful team. How does one go about putting this unique list of top achievements on paper there in the Europa Park-East industrial park. Where do they fold double to make their racing team go to the extreme. 

3 x 1st National in 2024 ! 

For years they were chasing a national victory. Countless times they were very close but it never really worked out. And now last season 2024, no less than 3 national palms were nailed to the proverbial ceiling: 

1st National Sancoins 9,749 old with “Miss Sancoins 
1st National Sancoins 12,962 yearlings - fastest of 22,711 d. - with “The Super”  
1st National Argenton 8,343 old with “Miss Argenton”   

It started with the national victories from Sancoins 

It must be a thrill to know that “now” is the moment to clock to compete for the national victory and then to see 2 pigeons storming side by side towards the board. This happened to Ivan. For years he has been looking for that national victory and now he adds 2 national victories at the same time to his already impressive palmares. It is only given to the great ones in our pigeon sport and Team Baetens is definitely one of them! 
“De Super”...it is he who wins the sprint and beats his loft mate by 10 seconds. Not only does he win in his category against 12,962 yearling pigeons, but he is also the fastest of the entire Sancoins pack. 
“The Super”...a name he was already pinned on as a young pigeon because as a young pigeon he was anything but shy about beating top performances out of his wings, as a young pigeon he won a.o:
3rd Prov. ace pigeon KBDB All-round young pigeons - 4th Prov. Chateauroux 1,817d. - 40th National 13,852b. - 10th Provincial Orleans 5,949b. - 42nd Provincial Bourges 4,988b.
And then this season it just didn't work out. Until boss Ivan had the moth 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 those two. Ivan promptly took his hen away and put another hen, which had been without a cock for several weeks, with “The Super”. It clicked and apparently this was the motivation to go to extremes. 
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 solid value. 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. ”

And then came national Argenton 

A few weeks later it was another “goosebumps moment” because now blue hen “B22-4028365” brought the national victory from Argenton against 8,343 old birds to St. Niklaas. With an average speed of 1,450 m/m she showed her tail to all other participating pigeons. 

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 old and the yearling 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 old and 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 (see photos). 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."

Young pigeons
"Due to many under-laying of the eggs of the breeders and working with 16 "bulls", we quickly have 260 youngsters. These are divided into 2 groups. The aim of young pigeon racing is to gain experience and then I personally like the fact that 5 nationals for youngsters are programmed for this season. Now we will be able to choose whether to basket them or not. We can easily skip a national young pigeon race if the weather does not allow it. On the first national young pigeon race from Bourges, usually only hens participate. I could be wrong, but I have the impression that young hens don't let themselves drift with the crowd as much. Especially when there is west in the wind direction we are careful. With the other nationals, this exactly has less importance. 
Of course we darken the youngsters from 15/03 until the longest day of the year. Afterwards, they are exposed until the end of the season. 
The first 2 to 3 weeks after weaning they receive 100% breeding mix, after that Junior Plus IC is on the menu. This mixture is given until the first flights. If the youngsters do not fly to our liking, we dare to lighten the menu with 15% Gerry Plus IC. The youngsters are fed twice a day just like the old and yearling birds. 
In order not to put all eggs in the same basket, the youngsters are trained in 2 groups. Weather permitting, we are on the road with them. Personally, I think you can never train a youngster too much and if they have a tough learning flight where the youngsters come home in bits and pieces, I see that as a plus. The losses must of course remain acceptable because otherwise something is wrong with their health. 
Once the 2nd group has completed a 200km flight, the sexes are separated and the youngsters are played on the sliding door for the rest of the season.
During the season, we often ride to the in cycling world famous "Muur" of Geraardsbergen. This is 47km for us. When the youngsters come home from this training flight, the sexes can party for 1 hour and then they are inevitably separated again. 
On the day of basketing they come together for 2 hours. We do this fairly early in the afternoon because to let the youngsters eat well, we separate them again and they are well fed again. So they go into the basket with a well-filled crop. 
During the season, the care system of the old and yearling pigeons is copied."

The base
If we analyse the base of the Baetens colony we see that there are 3 breeding lines.

1st base line is a pigeon from Casaert-Sénéchal (son of 1st National ace KBDB "Nicolaas" x his mother "Palme d'Or" - also mother of 1st Nat. ace KBDB "Amalia") coupled with a pigeon from Staf Vermeiren which won 7th National ace KBDB ½ Fond.

Tribal bear “Rax” in particular is the common thread running through the Baetens colony.

2nd Nat. ace KBDB middle distance yearling
2nd World Best Pigeon Distance
1st and 3rd Olympiad pigeon 2019-2020
12th and 13th National ace pigeon KBDB 2022
14th and 15th National ace pigeon KBDB 2020

“Rax” is father of:
“Oly Rax": 2nd Nat. ace pigeon All-round KBDB 2020
“Boris": 1st Prov. - 12th Nat. ace pigeon KBDB Fond and 13th Nat. ace pigeon KBDB Allround
“083-18": 1st Nat. ace pigeon KBDB ranking - 7 prizes

“Rax” is grandfather of: 
1st National Sancoins old 2024
1st National Argenton old 2024
3rd and 19th Nat. ace pigeon KBDB 2019
12th, 18th and 25th National ace pigeon KBDB 2024
16th National ace pigeon KBDB 2023

Speaking of a valuable breeder !

2nd base line is the “Gladiator line” of Bart Geerinckx (Wommelgem). These were brought to St. Niklaas in 2005 as well as in 2010.

3rd base line is the co-breeding with pigeons from Bart and Nance Van Oeckel (Oud-Turnhout). Especially the line from his famous “F-16” is very successful. This line was crossed with the previous 2 basic lines and that goes like the best butter on a thick slice of bread. 

My pigeons perform well up to 750km but since we also want to score further, we are always looking for reinforcement. Recently we invested in pigeons from Tom Van Gaver. 

After our conversation, we can only conclude that we haven't seen the very last of the Baetens colony. The present class spiced with the motivation of owner Ivan will lead this colony to many great performances.

Stefan Mertens

Especially for Pigeon Bids, Ivan selected 8 youngsters born from “children Rax” whether or not paired against children “Ace of Aces” 
This internet auction ends Monday 24 March at 2 p.m. (c.e.t.)