Thijs Nick & Roger from Hallaar continue at the highest level and again win 1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
25 Apr 2024
In Hallaar, Antwerp, we always visit the top colony of Nick & Roger Thijs, and of course Godelieve, as is our annual habit. This trio runs the colony together and they do it excellently. They have become permanent fixtures in the field of national ace pigeons or championships. As an extra, a new national ace pigeon was added last season with “Fonne”, who also brought home an Olympiad pigeon for the first time. The result of building something up with the same stock of pigeons for 15 years and where not a single top pigeon has been sold in recent years. The colonies that have 3 x 1st National Ace pigeons in their breeding loft are running thin.
If you ask about the motivation for next season, they say, we will remain calm and we will all start from zero. Ideally, we would first like to become 1st national champion in the heavy middle distance for old and yearlings. A competition where they came 2nd last year and 5th in 2022.
The list of high-level titles is simply being extended
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
1st Provincial champion heavy middle distance olds/yearlings KBDB 2023
2nd National champion heavy middle distance olds/yearlings KBDB 2023
2nd Nat Olympiad Pigeon Cat. D Maastricht 2024
2nd National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance 2023 (6 KBDB races)
8th National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
12th National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
15th National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance KBDB 2023
Below we only mention the 1st places in some top championships since 2021
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2022
1st National Ace Pigeon All Round youngsters KBDB 2022
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
1st Provincial champion heavy middle distance olds/yearlings KBDB 2023
1st Provincial Ace Pigeon middle distance youngsters KBDB 2022
1st National Champion heavy middle distance youngsters KBDB 2021
1st National Argenton 14,787 old birds
1st National (z) Bourges 3,333 yearlings
1st National (z) La Souterraine 1,634 youngsters
1st General Champion Long Distance Club Antwerp
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings (8 races )
Foundation family
If we now look back to 15 years ago, it is mainly the line of the “Portier” and his son “De Witte 6” that are the common thread throughout this colony.
In addition, “Superkweker 511” and 2 sons of the “Witte 6”, namely “Thor” and “Zwarte Mol” are the other standard bearers of this colony.
If we look at this moment, these toppers are all still present in the breeding loft, but they no longer fertilize. Every beautiful song comes to an end. But we are sure that other top performers will emerge who will become the new super breeders. One of them will certainly be “Sparrow”, which won 1st National Argenton 14,787p and 16th National Gueret 12,888p and in 2023 was already the father of 2 top hens, both of which were national ace pigeons. There is no lack of follow-up and with all their national ace pigeons in the breeding loft this will be just fine.
Hens and cocks on classic widowhood
They have been using the system for several years, both sexes have permanent partners who stay at home. That might be the motivation needed when coming home, having something to fly home for. In the winter period, the old racing hens are coupled with the best widowers and they raise a round of youngsters. This way we have faster breeding results from our best racers who are still in the racing lofts at that time. The hens are prevented from laying a second time and the hens return to the aviary when the young are 14 days old. The yearlings do not breed, mainly because of the long darkening with the young pigeons and the flights that last until September.
After the breeding period, the daily walking starts again, but the training here is never very hard or extremely long. We are very happy if our pigeons stay in the air for half an hour. That is why we choose to let the pigeons out twice a day in April and as they participate in the middle distance races we reduce this to once a day. It is important that the pigeons receive good preparation and are flown in without forcing themselves.
The hens are darkened from March 1 to 3 weeks before Bourges I. We do not do this with the widowers. They do not provide additional lighting, usually the time when we stop here is at the beginning of August and then the days are still long enough.
The widowers have the choice between their trouser loft and an aviary during the day, the hens are locked out in an aviary during the day and when they come inside they go to their resting loft where they can sit in small boxes and where there are rollers on the floor to help each other. to prevent mating. Only when it is very hot do we allow the hens to choose between a resting loft and an aviary, otherwise it can become too hot in the aviary. Both aviaries are only open at the front to avoid drafts.
Inside the widowers' loft and outside view of the widowers' aviary
Do you still find motivation important or not?
The more we play with pigeons, we attach less and less importance to this. To make it easy for ourselves, we never show anything before basketing. The pigeons know all too well what it is all about and at the end of the week they know what is expected of them.
The hens simply fly to their breeding loft and we take them away from there, that is the only motivation we use, and we just pick up the cocks straight away. In the beginning on the shorter flights they are allowed to spend time together, but once they return home from national flights we still attach importance to 30 to 45 minutes of recovery before their partner can join them.
We do choose to give our widowers another race after a national race, usually they do Noyon or something like that, our hens never stay at home and are offered middle distance in light weather or a Noyon in heavier weather. The advantage of this is that they stay in the rhythm, they are away from the loft and eat better when they are basketed for the national flight. Another advantage is that when you let the pigeons fly, Noyon brings more speed to the pigeons because nowadays it depends on details and the first pigeons on a national level are very close together.
The resting loft, breeding loft and aviary of the racing hens
Toppers of the 2023 season
BE 22-6034064 “Fonne” Dirty Blue Cock
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
2nd Nat Olympiad Pigeon Cat. D Maastricht 2024
3rd Prov Ace Pigeon middle distance youngsters KBDB 2022 (after 2 loft mates)
2 Melun 2.850p ( 2nd fastest 13.567p after loftmate )
2 Nat (z) Bourges ’23 2.054p
59 NAT 18.729p
2 Quievrain 891p
4 Melun 2.784p
4 Noyon ’23 289p
5 Noyon 1.170p
7 Prov Argenton ’23 2.175p
176 NAT 17.210p
11 Melun ’23 2.803p
12 NAT Chateauroux ’23 13.096p
15 Noyon 1.510p
21 NAT Argenton ’23 15.210p
27 Melun 1.009p
168 NAT Chateauroux 17.081p
Father BE 19-6036717 Theo
won 8 Chevrainvilliers 1,532p – 11 Noyon 1,299p – 26 Nat (z) Bourges 4,514p – 38 Nat Bourges 22,506p – 89 Nat Chateauroux 24,617p
Brother of “782/20” is father of “Celine ” (see the results below)
Son of top breeder “Thor” is son of Witte 6 x “Maria” Gaston Van de Wouwer
Mother BE 20-6185703 Tammeke
1 Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings (8 races)
1 Ace Pigeon Long Distance Club Antwerp
7 Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2021
Won 3 Noyon 1,299p – 50 Nat Chateauroux 22,196p – 56 Nat Issoudun 14,758p – 97 Nat Chateauroux 7,674p – 117 Nat Bourges 25,096p – 186 Nat La Souterraine 14,037p – 214 Nat Chateauroux 10,317p – 251 Nat Argenton 21,282p
½ sister of “Black Pearl” is mother of 1st National Ace Pigeon All Round youngsters KBDB 2022 and 1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2022
Daughter of super breeder “Zwarte Mol” x “924/17” Geertje – Geert Lambrechts is a super breeding hen
BE 22-6034057 “Celine” Blue Hen
8th National Ace heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
18 Nat (z) Bourges 2.064p
22 NAT Chateauroux 13.096p
28 Prov Argenton 2.175p
60 NAT Argenton 13.393p
80 NAT Bourges 12.094p
197 NAT Bourges 23.847p
Father BE 20-6185782 Brother Witte Neus
Won himself 41 Nat Bourges 28,551p – 85 Nat Bourges 33,410p – 104 Nat Bourges 11,952p – 155 Nat Chateauroux 15,322p – 159 Nat Issoudun 14,782p – 214 Nat Chateauroux 10,317p
Brother from “Theo” that father is from “Fonne” (results see above)
Son of top breeder “Thor” is son of Witte 6 x “Maria” Gaston Van de Wouwer
Mother BE 20-6185714 The 14 hen
Won herself 13 Nat Chateauroux 22,196p – 15 Nat Argenton 21,282p – 21 Prov Argenton 2,535p – 52 Nat (z) Bourges 3,333p – 88 Nat (z) Chateauroux 3,333p – 93 Nat (z) Bourges 4,035p – 197 Nat Issoudun 8,151p
Daughter of “489/18” Genopte Paul Huls x “430/15” 1 Melun 397p - 2 Nat (z) Chateauroux 2,980p – 5 Prov Vierzon 1,131p – 7 Nat Chateauroux 10,454p – 20 Prov 1.022p
The following 2 top yearlings are brother and sister of each other and are 2 children of national winner “Sparrow”. Keeping all the top pigeons here will only bring them even more top pigeons.
BE 22-6034060 “Sparrow's Ace” Blue Cock
12 Nat Ace pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
8 Prov Argenton 2.175p
24 Nat (z) Bourges 2.064p
49 NAT Bourges 12.094p
184 NAT Chateauroux 13.096p
BE 22-6034044 “Sparrow’s Girl” Blue Hen
2 Nat Ace pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings 2023 ( 6 KBDB races )
5 Melun 2.784p
5 Prov Vierzon 1.507p
12 Prov Fay Aux Loges 5.959p
52 Prov Argenton 2.175p
72 NAT Chateauroux 13.096p
76 Prov Argenton 2.328p
80 Nat (z) Bourges 2.064p
137 NAT Bourges 12.094p
919 NAT Argenton 15.210p
Father BE 19-6036708 Sparrow
1st National Argenton 14,787p – 16 Nat Gueret 12,888p
Son of “DV 941/16” Grandson Kaasboer Gaston Van de Wouwer x “867/17” is daughter of Witte 6 x 22 Duivin
Mother BE 19-6036736 Blue
30 Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance KBDB 2021
15 Nat Argenton 14,787p – 26 Nat Chateauroux 7,099p – 98 Nat Chateauroux 24,617p – 101 Nat Bourges 26,085p
Daughter of “582/18” Top racer middle distance x “806/17” Klein 06 won 6 Nat Argenton 21,915 p and 20 Nat Bourges 38,456 p. This is a daughter of stock mother of “954/10” 1 Prov Orléans 2,402 pigeons.
Young pigeons
The young pigeons have done very well every year and especially the middle distance and national races are our goal. We make our selection based on this and this has not done us any harm.
The pigeons have a large loft at their disposal with an aviary at the front with windbreak mesh that you can remove or replace in several pieces. This is especially advantageous when it gets too hot, you still give the pigeons extra oxygen. We also attach great importance to this.
The young pigeons are darkened until June 21 and especially after they have flown their first official flight, they are taken away 8 to 10 times. After darkening, they are placed at their natural times for 2 to 3 weeks and from then on additional lighting starts until the end of the season.
We opt to let our pigeons fly 3 to 4 times Quievrain before continuing, we believe the importance of trust and looking out of their eyes at a short distance is important. Once they have survived, you will be much less likely to lose pigeons at further distances unless they cannot cope or you have to deal with a disaster flight.
Here too we do nothing in terms of motivation, we do not use extra boxes and during the season itself we have only a few couples that have been formed. After they have flown Noyon, the sexes are separated and they train once a day in the morning. The young hens will usually fly all national races while the young cocks are spared a little more and are kept in the middle distance. But that depends from season to season of course. Here too, choose Quievrain or Noyon between the national flights.
The young pigeons are given Aidi Breeding until we want them to really start flying, this is usually in April when we think it is time and from then on the mixture is made lighter.
Accompaniment
Since 2021 we have switched to the Aidi mixtures, which we feel very good about. During the week during the season, the racing pigeons are given Vliegmix 1, 2 or 3. From the middle distance onwards we use Girl Power for the hens and on the last day we add Vliegmix 3, which we also use when we return home.
It is important after the season that the pigeons are given Aidi Rui until they are really well moulted and afterwards they are given Rest Aidi in the aviaries until the start of the new racing season.
For medical check-ups, we always visit Dr. Mariën and use his conditioning powder weekly and his conditioning syrup once a month. The pigeons are given yellow drops on their food every Sunday during the season. When the pigeons come home we always give Belgasol from Belgica De Weerd. As extra supplements during the week, we mainly use Health Elixir or Condition Booster from Aidi.
We try to get our pigeons clean at the start of the season and hopefully we won't have to intervene afterwards. Only when we have trouble with the eyes of the young pigeons do you sometimes have to do something, but here too we are more and more in favor of not giving anything anymore because it takes just about the same amount of time.
Nick & Roger congratulations on these fantastic results from the entire HERBOTS TEAM.
Buelens Kim
