Van Roy Koen - Asse 1st Interprovincial Orleans 2,590 yearlings - fastest of 12,976b.

Last weekend OVV & PE East Flanders together with the 32 East Flemish and 3 non-East Flemish middle distance locals organised a flight from Orleans. A participation of many locals results in many pigeons and with a total of 12,976 pigeons they headed for Orleans. 
Fastest of the entire competition was the yearling hen of Koen Van Roy from Asse. For a distance of 371km and an average speed of 1,592.58 m/m, she tolerated no competition. 
Koen: "14 days ago she was the 1st signed hen on the poule letter but that flight did not go so well. She needed more than 9h to get home from Toury. The week after I gave her on Noyon where she classified nicely to then be the primus on Orleans now."

 

From the tone of Koen's voice, this Orleans win is one that pleases him a lot. Koen: "I am certainly not going to complain about my season, but it has been a "special season". As you know, I only play with hens and these hens are in an open aviary day and night. Everyone remembers the wet and cold spring and that weather was anything but conducive to fitness. When the weather got much better, the wind blew from the east and since we Brabanders (3 localities) have a pigeon racing partnership with East Flemish localities, it was not so easy to put nice results on paper. Wind and mass against they call it. But yes...I don't look for excuses and sometimes the wind is more in my favour then like last weekend."
Summary results season 2023 (tem end July)

 

Keeping it simple
Anything but a complicated care system, Koen will make sure to achieve as many top results as possible with as little effort as possible. In a manner of speaking, he has only 1 very strong trump card in his hand and that is the QUALITY of his pigeons. Koen never minded an investment more or less to get to the top and the purchased pigeons were always put through the fine selection comb. All those that do not comply have to be removed immediately. Thanks to this selection, Koen now has an efficient and powerful breeding loft at his disposal.
Meanwhile, it is already known that Koen plays the hens card to the full. With a group of some 90 hens, he was at the start of the 2023 season. "Hereby 70 year-old hens" says Koen " the reason for the large number was because last season I kept all my young hens, even those with little experience. I preferred to give them a few more chances to prove themselves but I can guarantee that this season the selection bar was high and the "selection knife" inexorable. The season will end with about 30 hens, which says enough I think."
They will be played until the last races for old and yearling pigeons and then they will head for aviaries where they will stay until March. The hens are not bred with during the winter period. Once in March, the hens are prepared for the new season. In the beginning, they are trained once a day, but once mid-May, the ladies have to train twice a day for an hour to 1.5 hours. 

 

Koen's racing loft has 4 departments. These 4 departments are basically occupied by the youngsters. In front of the lofts there is an aviary and in one section of this aviary are the racing hens. This aviary is completely open (no roof) and the hens stay in this open aviary day and night. The loft has one central entrance for all pigeons. When the hens are basketted, Koen must first bring the youngsters into 2 departments so that the other 2 departments are free. The 90 or so hens are given 30 cocks and then the party can begin. For the first few months, none of the cocks have a fixed hen and sometimes the hens fight a tough battle to get a cock. Chaos and jealousy is the driving force behind the successes of this hens team. Chaos also reigns on arrival... whoever arrives first can choose from the range of cocks. 
The feed is of the Van Robaeys brand. We feel we are working with the low-protein mixture "Casaert", then Sport and finally Dynamik. Twice a day, the pigeons are allowed to eat as much as they want for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes they have to go back into the aviary. 

Koen, congratulations with this inter-provincial victory and good luck!

Stefan Mertens