Eddy Claes from Kortenaken confirms after 1st Nat Ace bird middle distance old KBDB 2020
01 May 2022
In 2020 this colony came on the top step of the national ace pigeons in the middle distance and in 2021 they confirm their status as top colony. Eddy Claes from Kortenaken runs this colony together with his brother Freddy and friend of the house Walter Devos. In 2020 they won the 1st National Ace Pigeon Middle Distance Old Birds with their top hen “Ella” and it is mainly this strain that forms the basis of several top pigeons. Furthermore, 21 different pigeons won a 1st prize in 2021, which reveals the breadth of this colony.
This trio has only been active since 2018 and to present such achievements is very nice. I think that the future for this colony as selection and testing of their pigeons can only make the colony stronger.
Championships 2021
3rd Prov Champion middle distance old KBDB5th Prov Champion middle distance yearlings KBDB5th Prov Champion great speed old KBDB6th Prov Champion high speed yearlings KBDB7th Prov Ace bird high speed yearlings KBDB8th Prov Ace bird middle distance old KBDB8th Prov Ace bird middle distance yearlings KBDB24th Nat Ace bird middle distance yearlings KBDB
Breeding loft
There are 17 couples in the breeding loft, all of which are in breeding boxes. We want to be sure that the youngsters we breed come from the pigeons that are sitting together. The 1st round is always under feeding couples (racers) and so we breed several rounds to achieve faster results.
The basic varieties of the national ace pigeon are mainly Davy Tournelle, Walter Devos and Rudi Serre, which are then crossed with Sabrina Brugmans, Kumpen – Schepers, Frank Monette, Lambrechts – Lismont and Laudus Jos & Annelies.
We leave the fixed couples from which we get results together for the first 2 rounds and then we recouple to be able to test this youngster well.
Racing team on total widowhood
The entire racing team is raced on total widowhood, last year there were still 20 couples, but because in 2021 there were more good young cocks, we sacrificed 1 loft of the youngster to race it as a yearling. That is why we now have a total of 18 old and 40 yearlings to play.
The racing team is coupled together with the breeders around Christmas and raise the youngsters of the breeders. We will not let a 2nd lay happen, the pigeons are no longer coupled for the season.
The pigeons have aviaries in front of the lofts and especially the hens are very much in it. By the way, the ventilation inside is completely closed and there are always sieves in the windows of the lofts for fresh oxygen. At night the hens stay in counters, but there is always drink for their bowl so that they can always drink.
The racing pigeons are not released after the last race until the training sessions start in the spring. The widowers always train in the morning, the hens around noon and the youngsters in the late afternoon. We don't use a flag or balloons to keep the pigeons flying, we prefer to see what happens during the training itself. A healthy pigeon has to fly by itself for us. The pigeons train once a day and on the day of basketing they always get a bath. The widowers are half box all week and are fed in their living box with the dish turned upside down.
The pigeons are taken along as much as possible and speed, middle distance and extreme middle distance are raced weekly.
Motivation
We separate our pigeons after raising the 1st round and they only come back together during training to bring in the swing and motivation. They know the system of coming home so that they can go together. That is why we usually do not show partners during basketing, easy and pigeons quietly in the baskets because cocks are crazy enough.
If it does happen, we turn the saucer over for a few minutes with the widowers, once they are in the baskets we leave the hens in the lofts for a short time, but we see little difference in performance.
After the flight they can of course be together and this is only a few hours in the beginning. We have to keep them going until the end of the season, so certainly not too long in the beginning. Depending on the season, this sometimes turns into the evening and in case of a difficult flight, we grant them the opportunity to stay together for one night.
In total widowhood there are no partners ready when you return home? How do you solve that?
That's right, we have a few spare hens that don't go along, but that's very few to have anything in the lofts when they get home. Afterwards the first pigeons come home and they are allowed to frolic with each other, even if they are not couples. When most of the pigeons are at home, we sometimes check whether everything is in order with their partner, which is usually the case.
Towards the end of July we leave together again and we still race with a few pigeons on the nest, it was striking that they got 2nd provincial Salbris and 1st provincial Melun on the same day and on top of that 2 x 1st on Laon on top.
Top pigeons from the Claes colony
BE 18-2142643 “Ella” Hen
1st Nat Ace Middle Distance old birds KBDB 2020
1 Sermaises 870b
1 Etampes 728b
1 Sermaises 313b
4 General 2,379b
1 Sermaises 271b
19 General 4,267b
6 Sermaises 1,591b
9 Sermaises 455b
Father BE 17-2058196 “Proudy” Davy Tournelle
Gr.F. BE 12-2067236 Mystery Men - Davy Tournelle
Won 8 Nat Chateauroux 19,663b – 10 Nat Tours 3,947b – 25 Nat Argenton 3,550b
Gr.M. BE 14-2340905 Torres Star - Davy Tournelle
Daughter from “Torres” 1 Nat Chateauroux 4,699b x “Liv” 2 Nat Chateauroux 5,901b
Mother BE 15-2020666 “66 Duivin” Walter Devos
Gr.F. BE 14-2006385 Serre 385 – Rudi Serre
Son from top couple “860/12” Blue x “846/12” Chequered
Gr.M. BE 14-2047987 Blauw – Luc Vrijdags
Daughter from “438/07” Son Neptunus Gaby Vandenabeele x “500/12”
Full brother from nationale ace pigeon “Ella” is
BE 20-2049513 Den 13 – Cock
24 Nat Ace Middle distance old birds KBDB 2021
3 Sermaises 146b
3 Sermaises 135b
3 Sermaises 104b
4 Sermaises 1,033b
6 Sermaises 592b
7 Sermaises 255b
8 Melun 936b
11 Sermaises 2,250b
64 Melun 2,752b
BE 20-2049530 “Den 30” Cock
1 Momignies 302b
1 Momignies 158b
1 Soissons 128b
2 Momignies 315b
2 Momignies 202b
3 Momignies 2,364b
4 Soissons 106b
6 Soissons 737b
9 Momignies 1,032b
9 Momignies 1,025b
12 Soissons 244b
12 Momignies 228b
16 Soissons 386b
18 Soissons 468b
20 Soissons 647b
26 Soissons 1,215b
Father BE 15-2139202 “Long Blue” Kumpen – Schepers
Gr.F. BE 12-2094119 22th Nat Chateauroux - Kumpen – Schepers
Gr.M. BE 13-2112172 15th Nat Bourges - Kumpen – Schepers
Mother BE 19-2138515 Jossane – Laudus Jos & Annelies
Gr.F. BE 14-2148704 Son Jonge Hufkens – Frederik Motton
Gr.M. BE 16-2106096 Chequered – Rik Stouthuysen
BE 20-2049515 “De 515” Hen
1 Sermaises 141b
3 Sermaises 119b
4 Melun 209b
5 Sermaises 235b
7 Prov Bourges 2,062b
48 Nat 11,952b
7 Melun 256b
7 Sermaises 166b
12 Melun 2,752b
Father BE 14-2006385 Serre 385 – Rudi Serre
Super breederGrandfather “Ella” 1st Nat Ace bird middle distance old KBDB 2020
Grandfather “Den 13” 24 Nat Ace bird middle distance old KBDB 2021
Gr.F. BE 12-2075860 Blue
Son of “BE 07-365” Blue Bourges won 56 Nat Bourges 11,756b x “BE 07-883” Blue
Gr.M. BE 12-6317846” Slightly checkered – Jan Hermans
Daughter of “NL 05-247” Brother Halve witpen x “BE 03-724” Frommeltje
Mother BE 14-2142628 Serre 628 – Rudi Serre
Sister “Triple One” 1 Prov Bourges – 2nd Prov Ace Heavy M.D. KBDB
Gr.F. BE 09-5172769 Chequered- Rudi Serre
Gr.M. BE 10-5165174 Chequered white flight - Rudi Serre
Young pigeons
We breed about 80 youngsters, these are all darkened from mid-March (5:30 pm – 8:30 am) until the beginning of June. Afterwards, they are illuminated from the longest day until the end of the season.
The earliest youngsters have to race middle distance several times anyway, but we don't like to squeeze our youngsters. We will go to the national races with a few pigeons and they will race a maximum of 2 as a youngster.Because we have an extra loft for widowers, we can no longer play our youngsters on the sliding door. That is why we will see how this works out in 2022 and how we will motivate them.
In terms of selection, we like young pigeons that classify early several times and then miss once, that's allowed. Rather than always flying prizes, we also take into account the build of the pigeon and the pedigree. A pigeon whose brothers or sisters present themselves well, but he will certainly not get his chance in the racing loft as a yearling. Then there are no more excuses and he/she has to prove himself.
Nutrition and medical system
We feed Versele – Laga for the breeding pigeons and Beyers for the racers. After the season, the racing pigeons are given moulting mixtures up to the clutch. When the cultivation is over, we switch to Beyers Enzymix Recup. In the season itself we use Enzymix Recup, Sport Light, Premium Widowhood and Super Energy. There is no fixed regularity, everything stands or falls with what the pigeons have to fly. The only thing is that the pigeons of speed receive Sport Light as the heaviest mixture and the pigeons receive the same mixture on departure and return. When they get home they always get electrolytes and we mainly work with the Beute products in the field of proteins, amino acids and conditioning powder.
We also go for a check-up with Wouter Kumpen or Raymond Ectors. We go anyway before the racing season as a check-up and after that only if we see that something is wrong. For training, the racing pigeons have received ¼ flagyl for this season and we work individually with the yellow drops on Tuesday during the season. The old pigeons are vaccinated against paramyxo and in the autumn everything against paratyphus. We vaccinate the young pigeons 2 x rota / paramxyo and against pox.
We are looking forward to 2022 for this colony but congratulations in advance with the results achieved by the entire HERBOTS TEAM.
Buelens Kim
