Frederick Everaert (Zwijnaarde), pure top class on the one-day long distance

Not going for the middle rankings, but for victory, for top quality. That is a brief summary of a conversation with Frederik Everaert. Frederik's talkativeness is positively contagious. You can hardly say that he lets things take their course. Going for excellence. Frederik is still relatively young, but at 47 he has achieved something in life. Together with his wife Anja, he successfully ran a butcher shop in Zwijnaarde for 20 years. And 20 years of hard work from early morning till late at night requires a lot of energy ... and health is the highest good. This made Anja and Frederik decide to take it a little easier last year. And quitting the butcher shop was the ideal moment to return to their roots in Aarsele. This way, Frederik can now wait for his pigeons in a decent way. In Zwijnaarde he hardly ever saw his first pigeon arrive and he only left the butcher's shop (where Saturdays were busy) to go to the pigeon lofts after his first pigeon had landed. Things should now be a little more relaxed.

Aarsele, here we come!
They purchased Frederik's parental home and have almost finished renovating, so they will soon take up residence in Aarsele. They also relaunched the pigeon sport, the Everaert family's favorite sport. Frederik has been an avid fan of the pigeon sport from a young age and has done a great job in Zwijnaarde in recent years.
Anja also has a warm heart for the pigeon sport so it is good to see how both are eagerly looking forward to this relaunch and are eager to hit the boards running.
In the beautiful rural garden, a magnificent loft accommodation was installed for the racing pigeons. Spacious lofts, with modern equipment, stylishly matching the environment. The breeding pigeons are already residing there as well and this summer, a platoon of summer chicks was housed in these lofts. The goal is to train these a little this fall and winter and have them gain further experience carefully next year. Consider next year as a year of transition in anticipation of getting everything ready for season 2020.
They breed on the foundations of the old base. This base is excellent, which the widowers have proven sufficiently in Zwijnaarde. The vast majority of the stock pigeons has the Noël Lippens (Aarsele) and Antoine Van Landuyt (Vinkt) origins in their pedigree. With pigeons of these toppers, Frederick forged a successful collection of pigeons the past few years. These were supplemented with a few pigeons of Gaby Vandenabeele and Bourlard et Fils (Harveng). These pigeons are strong and tough and easily fly national top results.

Mentor Antoine Van Landuyt
Antoine Van Landuyt from Vinkt-Deinze is a very good friend of Frederik's, but has also been his mentor in the pigeon sport for years. Antoine has a lot of proven experience and has accumulated an admirable record of achievements. They see each other weekly: Frederik drops by in Vinkt regularly to discuss pigeons over a cup of coffee and Antoine annually inspects Frederik's young cocks. In addition to the basket this is a severe form of selection .... and Frederik admits that Antoine is regularly right when judging a pigeon. They also breed together regularly. Frederik has already achieved many successes with Toontjes' (as he likes to call him) pigeons, but also vice versa. Pigeon racing as it should be, helping each other, advising each other with the aim of both gaining from it. The way Frederik talks about it shows that they both enjoy it immensely.

Successes in Zwijnaarde
It will certainly not be evident to match the successes that were achieved in the lofts in Zwijnaarde just like that. It was tough flying sometimes with some nice honorary prizes to show for it (Frederik had little time for keeping up with all the results, but below you will find a brief selection from the stages):
1st national Brive yearlings 2016
1st provincial Limoges 2016
Provincial champion KBDB long distance old 2012
General champion Belgian Understanding 2012
And dozens of national top 100 rankings on the long distance and the extreme long distance
There is one crack, however, we would like to put into the spotlights: the Mirage. This formidable flying pigeon later developed into a top breeder and his children are strong proven sires as well. His record of achievements still looks impressive:
'Mirage' BE05-4295838
'07 Brive Nat 16,007 p. 12
’10 Cahors Nat 8,651 p. 13
’09 Brive Nat 17,456 p. 27
’08 Vierzon I.Prov 11,399 p. 30
’09 Narbonne Nat 7,156 p. 36
’06 Limoges YL Nat 15,507 p. 75
’10 Souillac Nat 7,045 p. 126
’08 Montauban Nat 5,438 p. 248
’09 Limoges Nat 11,869 p. 410
’10 Brive Nat 16,815 p. 828
’08 Brive Nat 14,521 p. 1269
’08 Limoges Nat 11,995 p. 2479

Unmodified care
Moving does not mean that the care of the pigeons will be changed. It is wait and see if it will be possible to keep the pigeons healthy as easily as in Zwijnaarde in the new lofts in Aarsele. No costs or efforts are spared to make the lofts beautiful and healthy, so the future is looking hopeful.
The pigeons are usually fed a mix of three brands of feed (Vanrobaeys, Beyers, Versele). In the beginning of the season (middle distance) they are fed lightly to very lightly. They are not fed full feeders but only a strict dose because Frederik wants the pigeons listen in a disciplined way.
In the morning they are relatively heavily fed after flying (1 hour of training with closed windows) (in preparation for the races this is Sport mix). Unlike many lofts, the pigeons are fed Gerry Plus and Beyers Vandenabeele the night before flying. Afterwards they get a little snack, but this approach certainly benefits the training rhythm.
Medically, Frederik leaves nothing to chance, but certainly does not want to exaggerate. He has his pigeons inspected regularly (before the breeding season, before the racing season, in between if necessary) but prefers to work preventively rather than reactively. In principle, the racing pigeons are made 'clean' before the start of the national races (both a cure against tricho and against possible worries). During the season they are given tea almost weekly, sometimes even vitamins, but never more than that.
Frederik dares to use his pigeons, but only when they are fully grown. His youngsters are well trained but that is it. His yearlings are basketed weekly for the middle distance, but are certainly not pushed to their limits. They should gain enough experience on the flights from 300 to 600 km, and are allowed to fly over 600 km maximum once or twice exceptionally. From the age of 2 they are allowed to go full ahead, but even then Frederik makes sure that the pigeons have recovered sufficiently after a heavy flight before being basketed again.
In most cases, the hen is shown upon basketing. This requires some extra work, but Frederik is convinced that this benefits the motivation. As you read, no magic tricks, but a pretty basic approach.

Results 2018
Last season was a strong season again with pigeons that had to perform in tough weather conditions. It was no season for wimps and most one-day long distance flights had a minute speed of 1,000 to 1,200 meters per minute, so they had to work hard. That is when Frederik's pigeons are in their element. Here are some results (pigeon house Eeklo):
Châteauroux 895 yl 1, 2, 6, 8, 9, 11 ,56, ... (21/26)
Limoges 786 old 2, 24, 28, 31, 36, 46, .... (12/17)
Cahors 199 old 6, 23, 45, ... (5/8)
Brive 428 old 3, 19, 35, 37, ... (10/12)
Agen 175 old 3, 12, 24, 48 (4/5)
Limoges 387 old 7, 25, 43, 61, 67, ... (7/12)
Limoges 317 yl 3, 16, 23, 30, .... (7/14)
Saint Vincent 94 old 20, 22 (2/4)
Jarnac 259 old 3, 47, 93 (3/4)
Libourne 165 old 13, 55 (2/3)
Tulle 180 old 11, 17, 31, ... (7/12)
Tulle 138 jl 3, 7, 9, 10, 14, ... (8/11)
Perpignan 102 old 5, 27 (2/3)
Angoulème 226 old 2, 7, 15, 23, ... (10/14)
Angoulème 195 yl 7, 24, 25, 26 (5/11)

With these results, they also achieved some very nice rankings at local and national level:
1st ace pigeon long distance old fond club Eeklo 2018
2de all round Championship Belgian Entente
11th ace pigeon long distance yearlings KBDB (with Dylala 17-4183808)
8th general champion Belgian Entente
5th champion great long distance & long distance yearlings KBDB
We add the pedigree of the yearling hen Dylala (11th ACE pigeon long distance KBDB yearlings) 

Head and wing of "Dylala"

Isidoor, the typical Everaert pigeon
During our visit we were given the opportunity to check out a few breeding pigeons. One of them leaves the others far behind, i.e. Isidoor (or the Libourne) with ring number BE08-4208591. He flew a 1st zonal Libourne himself (8th national of 8,723 p.) and several other national top prizes. It is a strong pigeon, with a soft and thick plumage and above all (typical of Frederik's pigeons) a strongly pigmented and expressive eye. He is the type of pigeon the breeding loft is composed of, pigeons that look beautiful in the hand. Isidoor is the father of:
49th national Brive
25th national Limoges
105th national Brive
63rd national Brive
174th national Argenton
37th national Limoges
98th national Tulle
A top sire as you can see. He is a descendant from the Lippens lines (Limoges, Vital) mated with the Casaert pigeons from Antoine Van Landuyt.
 

Frederik is quietly preparing to compete nationally again on the one-day long distance and the long distance from his new location in his hometown Aarsele in two seasons. Everything is available to make this work. 2019 is a transitional year with 2018 summer youngsters that will have to learn their lessons before they are ready for the heavy work. But there can be no doubt that he will succeed. Season 2018 was an excellent season and a continuation of the past trend. The stock is still there ... and Frederik particularly has not lost his winner's mentality yet!

The Herbots team wish them success!

Geert Dhaenens