Van Cutsem Jens – Idegem 1st Provincial Orleans 7,205 youngsters - fastest out of 10,811 pigeons

Idegem: Jens Van Cutsem, 31 years young and self-employed roofer/electrician by profession, is having a super season in middle-distance racing. Those who in local Viane and under the umbrella of Hafo/Dender have to cross the swords with the Van Cutsem pigeons every week know that it is not easy to beat them. 

We are consciously not going to talk about his old and yearlings in this report because if we look at the achieved coefficients for the national KBDB championships, we suspect that he will do very well there too and maybe even score a place on the podium. Waiting till the national KBDB championships are known but our feeling is that it will be more than top.

Orleans provincial

The reason why we did pay a visit was because last weekend Jens could write the provincial victory against 7.205 young birds from Orleans on his palmares. His Scheldt hen "B22-4116188" was not only first in her category but also the fastest out of 10,811 pigeons. A well deserved victory!

Jens: "Super content... my youngsters went after 2 x Noyon (150km), 2 x Sermaises (305km) to Orleans (350km). We have to say as it is, they haven't had an "easy" flight yet. Always head wind combined with warm temperatures. Also Orleans could count. My winning hen makes an average speed of 1220m/m and there are only 11 youngsters of the whole competition who exceed the cape of 1200m/m. This says more than enough. That says more than enough.

Whether my winner was specially motivated? Yes and no... she was one of the only hens that was really paired well before they were separated. Even more, she was the only hen that had laid. After their 2nd flight from Noyon, they were separated and the young hens are now in the same aviary as the old and yearling hens that are doing their last races on widowhood. The fact that she is no longer in her familiar loft, might have stimulated her. I have seen her arrive...straight from the direction...not one centimetre wrong. Goose bump moment."

Introducing

Jens is the 3rd generation in the Van Cutsem family to play with pigeons. Both grandfather and father are fanatic fanciers. In 2018 Jens moved to Idegem and plays exclusively the middle-distance races. "When one leaves the house every day at 6h - 6h30AM to go to work and only comes back home at 4h/4h30PM it is difficult to keep more pigeons to play several disciplines. The combination with a young family is not always easy to get everything organised, so it's better to be the best in a certain discipline than to take too much care and to play everything with maybe a lesser result. And I want to say this... not only me but a lot of fanciers are very satisfied about the cooperation Hafo/Dender, this way we can play every week against a nice number of pigeons. Hopefully this cooperation will exist for a long time. 
My basis is built with pigeons from Weemaels (Huizingen), Van Iseghem Norbert (St. Antelinckx - super success with it) - De Maeseneer Philippe (Denderwindeke), De Handschutter Kristof (Vollezele), Denys Dimitri (Liedekerke), Van Gaver Tom (Moortsele) and Alain D'Hoker (Denderwindeke). "

System young pigeons

Jens continues: "My breeders live with my uncle Peter Appelmans. The first round, 50 birds, come to me and the second round stay with him. So every year I have maximum 50 youngsters available. A second round is really not possible. 
The first weeks, the youngsters are together on a loft and get the necessary vaccinations against Rota, Paramyxo and smallpox. When the youngsters are weaned about 4 weeks old and they all eat and drink well, the breeding mixture is replaced by a mixture of 50% Super Diet and 50% Sport mixture. On a very regular basis, garlic oil with brewer's yeast is added to the feed and Naturaline with apple vinegar to the drinking bowl.
From a medical point of view, all youngsters get a tricho pill before the start of the season and then the medicine cabinet is closed. Against ornithosis they never treat and against tricho they give the well-known yellow drop every week. There is no more Adeno (hold the wood) and when "one eye cold" appears, we can only suffer it. I don't think anything really helps to prevent or cure this. The eyes are droped weekly with "ogentroost" (Vanhee).
The youngsters are darkened from half March till half June. Afterwards, there is no exposure, but the tip of the 1st and 2nd pinion are cut off at all pigeons. This also postpones the moulting of the wingfeathers. 
After their 2nd speed race, the cocks stay in the youngsters loft and the young hens move to the adjacent aviary where the old and yearling birds are also staying. The first week it is a bit of a struggle to get the young hens in line but after a few days of swearing they will be fine. A big advantage of this system is that they already get to know the system that is used as old and yearling pigeons.
When they come home, they get Super Diet (Versele-Laga) in the feeding trough. In the drinking water, they get electrolytes (Beyers). On Sunday, this is 50% Champion Plus IC and 50% Super Diet. On this, Zell-Oxygen (Herbots) and beer yeast is mixed. Feeding is done with Energy mixture from Beyers. 
On Wednesday, I try to let the pigeons up at about 15 km. With a difference of about 5 minutes, the pigeons are going into the air. When they come home, they are immediately separated.

Jens...congratulations with your first provincial victory and on to the next one

Stefan Mertens