Annick Goeteyn (Deinze) plays a golden frame around the 2024 season

1st national zone Bourges 678d
1st provincial Bourges 1,547d
1st inter-provincial Chateaudun 2,703d
1st interprovincial Chateaudun 4,155d
1st and 2nd inter-provincial Fontenay 1,895d
1st interprovincial Fontenay 2,948d

You can come home with such a report. So we chose our title deliberately and when you can win 1st provincial, 1st national zone, some 1st and 2nd interprovincial then a golden edge is in order. The season was also crowned with a laundry list a first prizes. Few lofts can present such a score...and this has been the case here in Deinze for a number of years.

A historically strong Vandenabeele foundation

History is well enough known by now. How do you build a pigeon colony that can stay on top ? Similar to building a house. You choose the best materials and you build it all with deliberation, brick by brick, solidly, and you show your best stilemanship to finish it and further maintain it well. If you don't do it this way, then the construction will not last.

This is how it has been in the past with Annick's pigeon colony. High quality installations, an enormous dedication and also feeling for pigeons, and started with the best materials from the golden breeding colony of Gaby Vandenabeele. It was started 'long time ago' with a few couples of eggs from the best Gaby had under his pans. With such a launch base, the rocket took off pretty quickly. 

This golden breeding vein is still the base of the team and has been supplemented here and there with a dash of other blood that apparently fits this base very well (and we find names such as Liliane Demely, Joël Verschoot, José & Stijn Van Laere, Chris Debacker, and a few more champions who, in one way or another, contribute to the construction of the breeding and racing team in Deinze). The strengthening of the baseline was always carefully sought and selectively introduced, without damaging the golden breeding line. A wise approach that pays off !

Organization, discipline, dedication ...

...are not hollow slogans here. Day after day, year after year, 24 on 7, the dedication is top notch. It cannot be otherwise than that Annick really enjoys working and playing with the pigeons. Little to nothing is left to chance to always be ready. It is a system of excluding variables. The more you exclude as creeping hazards, the less likely it is that mistakes will still be made. And it works ! No easy feat, but dedication and discipline are printed in bold letters above the lofts.  And this is how you bring a team in healthy condition to the starting line every week.

And when we talk about a team, it consists of 72 racers who started the season 2024, 15 old racers and 57 yearling birds. In recent years a lot of focus has been put on strengthening the breeding loft. After the sale of all the basic pigeons in 2017, all the best racing pigeons at a young age were moved to the breeding loft every year to widen the breeding base back as quickly as possible. A rebuilding without much notice in lesser results. You just have to do it !

A transparent game system to avoid mistakes

The 72 racers are divided into 35 cocks and 37 hens. The races that are mainly played is speed, middle distance, heavy middle distance and some day long distance races. Again, it is noticeable that the hens score better than the cocks. They can enter the basket weekly, recover more quickly, are easier to motivate...many reasons listed and cited to support this..but the real secrets no one knows..but they do.

Both cocks and hens are played on classic widowhood. The hens are paired mid-January and cocks late January and bred for the season. Not too early, but in enough time to make them very fry resistant and increase the territorial drive.

Widowhood play is the common thread through the season. Only 6 hens that were tired of widowhood during the evolution of the season were played on nest between the youngsters. Note that the hens that were played on widowhood were basketed 18 times and achieved very strong results over the whole season.

The pigeons train once a day and because of the tight racing rhythm, they stay on level enough to compete for the top.

All pigeons receive the AIDI range as feed. For several years now this has been followed as a feed line to great satisfaction. It is easy to handle and the results are top.

Medically, there is a biweekly check-up with veterinarian Piet Blancke. This check-up is 99% preventive and only requires interventions in case of possible threats to health and/or condition. The old pigeons are only vaccinated against paramyxo, the youngsters against paramyxo-rota, paratyphoid twice and finally they are vaccinated against smallpox.

The team of youngsters (150 pigeons) originates from the breeders and also from the racers. In the past, the youngsters were played on the sliding door, but this episode is over. Because of the intensity of the different teams that had to train, there was not enough time to do it all. Therefore, we decided since 2021 to leave the youngsters together and to play them in a natural way (paired, unpaired, in nest position...). This to great satisfaction. There is no difference in the results and the choice was quickly made.

Besides the daily training, the yearlings and old pigeons are no longer taken on training flights in between. After the training flights, the rhythm is intense enough not to need intermediate flights. Everyone goes into the basket almost every week and training at home is enough.

This is different with the youngsters. By not playing widowhood with the youngsters anymore, the training rhythm in the nest positions is lowered and short training flights are done in between. If these efforts were not made, the training rhythm would be too limited and the results would not be what they are now.

Some pleiade of top flyers in 2024 
Don't be surprised if in the pedigrees of the pigeons that score top you regularly find names like Orlando, Orlandor, Gabor, Lieske, New Lieske, Tsaby, G-Power, Kim and Nicofelia's or something like that...these are the nicely interwoven basic pigeons we already talked about in the beginning of this reportage. In a kind of removed inbreeding, they are kept in the same bloodlines and occasionally supplemented with a limited cross.

There were several that made the fine weather in 2024 (and the seasons before). Too many to list.

BE22-4131131 Son Lucky 7

 is a top cock who shines in regularity in top prizes in addition to 1st prizes. His roots are Milano (Orlanda x daughter Mister Unique Hok Liliane Demely) coupled to Lucky 7 or back the line Orlando, Tsaby, Kim Nicofelia 

BE-4065034 Granddaughter Full Power is a top hen with wins at Fontenay and a series of top prizes. Here again the old lines as Full Power, Orlandina coupled with Blue Betsy and then we go back to Gabor and Beauty Bond of Vandenabeele. 

BE23-4065046 Kimmie flies 1st Chateaudun and completes this list with nothing but top prizes. She is a daughter from the lines Son Kim (Tsaby x Wilma by Chris Debacker) x G-Power (Tsaby, Orlando, Nicofelia).

BE23-4065067 Beauty Soulmate is a beautiful hen who flew 1st Chateauroux among others and has in her pedigree a cross of Milano x Mr Unique paired with Soulmate (Tauber, Orlina, Orlando, Nicofelia). 

BE23-4065069 Nikita flew a.o. 1st national Zone Bourges and is a breeding product from Armando-Contador (Joël Verschoot) x Nina (Ronaldo, Nina...). Truly a hen with a splendid record ! (pedigree Nikita)

BE23-4065103 Leo is with his 1st interprov Fontenay perhaps the odd one out in the row. A pigeon from Demeulemeester-Depoorter who is doing sublime with Annick. His father is a direct José and Stijn Van Laere-pigeon and his mother is a hen from the Demeulemeester-Depoorter lofts. A super cock ! 

BE23-4065119 Nathalie flew a.o. 1st provincial Chateaudun etc.... Her father is Remco (a Demeulemeester-Depoortere pigeon, with the own kind of Goeteyn interwoven in it) x as mother an hen of José and Stijn Van Laere. The own type with a touch of speed blood in it leads also here to toppers

BE23-4065133 Orlanda is a hen that shines in regularity. 1st prize Arras but head to Chateauroux. On all distances she is ready. Her father is Joël (and comes directly from the loft of Joël Verschoot) coupled with Fedeline who is a daughter of Orlando x Nicofelia (or the base of the strain). 

BE24-4033084 Little Lucky is a young hen who could write 1st price interprovincial Fontenay on 'her cahier'. She is a daughter of Grandson Mr Unique with the own type x the line Full Power - G-Power - Orlando- Tsaby. With something like that, the future is assured ! 

And to make the picture even more complete below a short overview of the performances in 2023 with the prices top 100 national and national Zone. Again a proof that there is a very constant line in the performance of these pigeons. 
It would also be very surprising if this would suddenly go in a different direction, because the strain is very carefully and sensibly built, the quality has certainly not deteriorated, the best racers go to the breeding loft and the framework (read: care and dedication, commitment ...) is undiminished. Then the guarantee is pretty big that the results are constant and, as is the case here, go crescendo.
An incredible wealth of various pigeons that almost achieve victories with their fingers in their noses and all sprung from that strong breeding tree present at Annick in Deinze.

The bar is high for next season, but all the signs are there that it will be smooth sailing again !

Congratulations from the Herbots team !

Geert Dhaenens

2023 Top 100 Nationaal & Nationaal Zone

1-4-14-30-31-92 Nationaal Z. Argenton 2442 p.
1-2-5-27 Nationaal Z.Chateauroux  1730 p.
2e Nationaal Z. Chateauroux    209 p.
4-35 Nationaal Argenton  15210 p. 
5-6-12 Nationaal Z. Argenton  314 p.
8e Nationaal Chateauroux     2331 p.
13e Nationaal Z. Tulle    1405 p.
15-97 Nationaal Z. Chateauroux  823 p.
30-36-46 Nationaal Z. Bourges   914 p. 
30-97 Nationaal Z. Argenton   2376  p. 
44-58 Nationaal Z. Bourges 3309p.
50-100 Nationaal Z. Libourne 1286 p.
54e Nationaal  Tulle  4982 p.
61e Nationaal Z. Chateauroux  2386 p.
63e Nationaal Z. Bourges 3187p.
80e  Nationaal  Libourne 3880 p.
84e Nationaal Z. Souillac 1473  p.
88e  Nationaal Argenton  14174 p. 

At this moment Annick offers on internet auction Pigeon Bids a magnificent group of 2024- pigeons 

This internet auction ends November 20 at 3 p.m. (c.e.t.)