The classics of classics remains Barcelona, ​​as usual every year. This flight is followed worldwide because of its glory and prestige. They were released around 7:15 am and with the favorable tailwind it could well be that pigeons could be home in the evening. We had to wait for the first pigeons in the North of France before we had a direction. At 9:22 PM the first pigeon was reported in Belgium just at the border with France. For many it was a signal that it was possible to clock today, but later it would become known that only 14 Belgian pigeons would return home the same day. 

The winner is located in the province of Limburg, namely in Schalkhoven, where Vincent Schroeder has found his new home base since 2020. His hen is the only pigeon ever to reach her loft before neutralization. A unique achievement in itself and especially when you know that no pigeons were reported in the Eastern part of France and the Eastern part of Belgium, this achievement is even clearer and more special.

We all know Vincent because of his job as a veterinarian and his products from Schroeder – Tollisan. In 2020 he moved from Bilzen to Schalkhoven and set up an aviary here to start the first youngsters. Among the racing team now at Barcelona there were 2 hens from 2020. In 2021 it really started with a completely new loft. where the focus is on long distance and mainly extreme long distance. Because of his busy job, there is hardly any time to deal with more pigeons and without the help of his wife it would not be possible at all. That's why I certainly couldn't forget to thank and mention this one from Vincent. 

The winner is a 2-year-old lesbian hen who stopped time at the Schroeder home around 9:45 and 51 seconds. What followed was emotion and pride for this pigeon and what she has achieved. It would later turn out that she won the 1st National Barcelona for Belgium against 6,310 old pigeons. In general, Vincent is clearly satisfied with his Barcelona team, a loft in full growth and construction had 7 pigeons in the clock around 9 am and at 2:45 pm 11 pigeons were home out of 13. The confirmation after he also won 3rd and 26th provincial in 2023 in Barcelona against 922 pigeons with only 5 basketing.

In terms of references, Vincent's pigeons are also doing very well elsewhere, for example, last week Goosse Jean won 1st National Valence with a 50% Schroeder pigeon. Other references with 50% Schroeder origin are 1st National Limoges last year against 8,970 yearlings by Constant Georges, 1st Provincial Agen, 1st Provincial St.Vincent, 2nd Provincial Perpignan, 6th National Marseille,... Vincent also enjoys this very much.

System hens

The hens spend the entire winter in the loft of the young pigeons, open front, plenty of oxygen and gentle moulting is the message here. After the young pigeon loft is needed to raise youngsters, the hens are moved to the racing loft. This is approximately the period from the end of February / beginning of March. The pigeons then enter the loft where all the boxes are closed and they are allowed to sit on chapels in front of the living boxes. They are trained and raced in this way on the first flights, and from the beginning of May the boxes are opened and they are allowed to start forming pairs. This is how Vincent had them done and they were basketed every week. There is no darkening or lighting here. There is only one hen that also flew Barcelona last year when she was paired with a cock and after the flight from Argenton she also received her cock in order to fly Barcelona and she was there again.

The hens no longer fly home during the week once they go on the flights. When the weather is good, they are taken to Kerkrade 1, 2 or 3 times a week and then fly 33 to 34 minutes. In preparation they flew several times sprint, middle distance and National Bourges at the end of May. Afterwards they were given a week of rest and flew Argenton National. Then all nests were broken down and allowed to lay again, so they went into the hive for 10 to 14 days of incubation. From the moment they laid they flew Mettet once more and 10 days before Barcelona I took them to Kerkrade 2 or 3 times a week and on the last Thursday before basketing I took them to Namur. The last 4 days they flew home in the morning and in the evening, but they had the choice whether they went outside or not. The national winner didn't feel like coming in the last 4 days, but that was no problem.

In terms of nutrition, Vincent uses different brands for variation and they are raised from light to heavy with 100% Sport for the last 4 days and then a high-fat mixture is added for the last 2 days. During breeding, they are fed on the ground in a food tray and in pots in the trays so that they continue to eat. 

Medically it makes sense that he examines the pigeons himself and before the season these pigeons were given a tricho treatment and nothing else. The pigeons had still not had anything for tricho until 10 days before Barcelona and the check at that time was also negative. I did not intervene in that area, but I did treat them 2 weeks before Barcelona for 4 days for the respiratory tract and on the last Friday before basketing they were each given an Appercox separately. 

During the last 4 days they also received Nano Tolyamin, Tolyamin Forte and Extra Energy as by-products.

BE 22-5170591 "Queen Lea" Hen
1st National Barcelona 6.310 old birds

Distance : 1061,033km
Velocity : 1218,39 m/min
Arrival : 21:45:51 ( same day as relaese )

Vincent, congratulations on this great victory from the entire HERBOTS TEAM. 

Buelens Kim