Röntgen Eduard & Dennis: National champion Germany of the international races

This year for the first time in 4 years I went to the Kassel show. Since 2019 it has no longer taken place due COVID. My days there can be said in one word: “discussion”. One of these discussions I had with father and son Röntgen who had a stand with selling pigeons. This is actually the only stand where I took pigeons in my hand. They exhibited some very beautiful pigeons there. At the same time when you are champion of your country, the opposite would have been difficult to believe. Since 2013 they have often been among the best in their nation: 1st national champion in 2023, 5th national champion in 2019, 6th national champion in 2013, 6th national champion in 2014 and 10th national champion in 2018, i.e. 5 times in the TOP 10 in the championship general over the last 11 years. This year they also won 1st prize at the Heinz Seegmüller championship played in the first 3 marked pigeons in all international competitions. And the cherry on the cake, after their 1st national Narbonne in 2019, he won the 1st national Perpignan in 2023. So not only do they know how to score but also how to point and it is for this second point that I had them in my sights for a while, hence my long discussion on the stand and the exchanges which followed to arrive at this little story to share with you, the readers of the Herbots website.

On the rankings you will read Röntgen und Sohn SG. It is a father and son duo. The father is Eduard, 68 years old and the son is Dennis, 37 years old. Together they enter their pigeons for the internationals at the WSC Wegberg-Myhl club, one of the strongest clubs in Germany. Until 2010 Dennis and Eduard competed exclusively in all-round competitions, with the Angoulême competition and its almost 800 kilometers being the highlight. Unfortunately the allround players became more and more cautious and from Angoulême we moved to Poitiers then even shorter to in the end no longer be allround but from middle distance to long middle distance. It is for this reason that they have reoriented themselves towards long distance competitions. What pushed them to take the plunge was also the friendship between them and the Freialdenhofen family. Before 2010 they were part of the Aldenhoven pigeon reception committee at almost (if not all) international competitions.

In 2011 their other friend Karl-Heinz Kanski lent them 13 breeding pairs to breed that year only pigeons capable of flying competitions of 800 to 1100 kilometers. The same year the first 6 Freialdenhofen pigeons joined the Röntgen breeding. The first year of breeding was immediately exceptional. In fact, they bred three top pigeons there. The first of them, 1990-11-42 "ZIZOU", from two Kanski pigeons. In 2013 he was crowned “Golden Barcelona“ and in 2018 he gave life to the 1st National Narbonne 2013. His blood can be found in many current Röntgen pigeons. The second star is the “PLAYBOY 51”, 1990-11-51, which during its sporting career achieved 10 prizes in international competitions including 3 x TOP 50 National Pau. He too has become an excellent breeder and his full brother is the father of the 3rd National Ace pigeon cocks of 2023 and grandfather of the 1st National Perpignan. The third exceptional pigeon of 2011 was QUEEN OF GERMANY 1990-11-112. In 2014 she had an exceptional year, including a 4th National Marseille and ranked 1st National Ace hens in international competitions. Coupled with “Zizou”, she gave birth to two super breeders. One of them is the mother of the 8th Nat Pau 2023, who is himself the nest brother of another ace pigeon of the colony with 3 prizes in 3 entries in 2023. Wulfram Kipp once said „if in a single year you breed 2-3 very good pigeons, that means you had a very good year.” So I'm going to hide behind these wise words from Wulfram and say that Dennis and Eduard couldn't have started off in a better way. When we read the preceding lines and take a step back, we quickly see that Dennis and Eduard managed to identify and fix the right genes since the 2011 good ones are at the origin of the 2023 good ones.

The pigeons loaned by Kasnki returned to Eschweiler and their descendants joined the breeding loft supplemented by more and more Freialdenhofen pigeons. In the first years, the best racers were removed from the racing loft after two years. Which in the short term had an impact on the results in the championship but which in the long term is considered to be a very good decision.

To complete the solid base composed by the pigeons Kanski and Freialdenhofen, Dennis and Eduard went to knock on the door of Friedhelm Menne, the super crack of Menne with his two international victories over Barcelona and Perpignan. Eduard knew that Friedhelm had a superb breeding female named “SIRAFA”. He called Friedhelm to get a young one to which Friedhelm replied that if he sold everything he was ordered from this hen she would have to lay 60 eggs per year. So at first they had nothing until they got a call from Friedhelm „I have something for you, a young cock from the couple Bruno x Sirafa“. For your culture “Sirafa” and “Bruno” were respectively National Ace Pigeon 3 years old Barcelona. From this couple the Röntgens had number 188, a breeding crack! Coupled to a Freialdenhofen female, he among other things gave birth to “292”: 4. Nat Barcelona 2022, 5.Nat Barcelona 2023, 10th National Perpignan 2022, 29th National Perpignan 2023 and 34th National Marseille 2021. A star among the stars! Another son of “188” coupled to the mother of the 1st National Agen 2020 (at the Freialdenhofen), achieves the 4th National Barcelona 2023.

The last “Jackpot” introduction of the Röntgens took place at Marc Schreurs. They regularly buy pigeons there that are not the best. The 2. Nat Primus Inter Pares 2019-2023 from Dennis and Eduard is a 50% Schreurs pigeon. At Schreurs Marc they did not take just any pigeons but direct children of these provincial winners from Barcelona and his Primus Inter Pares, convinced that the good come from the good.

Who says good results often says good loft. Without a good loft, good pigeons are often useless, unless they are the champion of fireworks and other magical additions. Until 2014 Eduard and Dennis had an L-shaped pigeonloft facing east from which they competed in grouping competitions. In 2014 an opportunity presented itself to them to buy and dismantle an almost brand new 10.5 meter installation built by Friedhelm Cox. For your cultivation, it is the same Cox who designed and built the garden pigeonlofts for the Freialdenhofen family. The new construction was located 30 meters behind the L-shaped pigeonloft and also oriented east. This 10.5 meter pigeonloft has 60 lockers for the cocks and next to it the tandem has built aviaries for the young and hens. In the L-shaped pigeonloft houses 25 breeding pairs as well as 12 cock and 15 hens. So the season starts with 72 cocks and 50 hens. To this is added in the peak period 80 youngsters, which therefore gives a maximum number of 250 pigeons. According to them, the most important thing is to have a good air volume/pigeon ratio or, in other words, not to overcrowd the facilities. In order not to exceed the quotas, the pigeons must pass a very strict selection. At one year old they compete in two major competitions and have the choice between winning 2/2 prizes or a top prize. Those who do not fit these criteria are not selected. They say the following thing: “Experience has taught us that a yearling that does not win prizes does not become better the following year.” Dennis and Eduard believe that air circulation is the central element in the proper functioning of the loft. Indeed, to follow up on the end of the following paragraph, their hens are housed in an aviary, with the front open and facing east. During the entire preparation period there was a lot of east wind. So these hens never reached the fitness level of the cocks who were sheltered from the wind during the preparation period. So yes, the 1st national Perpignan is good in the aviary but statistically over the season, the hens were much worse than the cocks and as the good meticulous and picky amateurs that they are, this is the point on which they will work in this off-season to attack the coming season even harder.

Little hook with the master of the house by the pigeons: In terms of type, we prefer medium-sized pigeons with good harmony. A good pigeon should feel like a board in the hand. I have never met a pigeon useful for long distances that did not have a good back. In breeding, we attach great importance to the eyes, looking for a small pupil, a visible, complete and closed correlation circle and good pigmentation of the iris. To achieve harmony, I try to couple the pigeons in such a way that a small cocks are paired with a more robust hen and vice versa. Each new pigeon in the breeding has three years to prove its worth. If he doesn't produce anything useful with different partners during this period, he is eliminated. We do not have what we call a "golden breeding pair", that might have been the case, but unfortunately the mother of “crack 292” no longer lays well and when she does her eggs give nothing . At the breeding site, we make new pairs every year, even if one pair has already given good results. In our country, couples do not stay together permanently.

Let's move on to care. Here too I will give the comment to Dennis „The Freialdenhofen family had food from the most common brands examined a few years ago. It appeared that Beyers' food was the best. Subsequently, the Freialdenhofens had both a flight mixture and a high-fat mixture prepared. For about 5 years, we have been feeding our pigeons with this food which we have delivered in one go. When we start training in mid-March, we use the “Champion Light Galaxy”. With this food we make pigeons fly up to 200 km. Then we gradually switch to the race food, and from 350 km the pigeons receive the last two meals, the high-fat mixture. In preparation for a long distance classic, the pigeons receive the rich mixture the last 4 meals. The pigeons are fed individually in their pigeon holes in the lofts which accommodate several teams in the same compartment. In the compartments where they all set off on the same course, they are fed in the common feed trough. When it comes to supplements, we use Rhönfried products. We chose a few products and are sticking with them, namely Hexenbier, Rotosal, Rooready, Immunbooster, Carni-Speed and Avidress. The products are administered according to the instructions. An important place in our plan is occupied by our own tonic that we make and believe in. We use this tonic all year round, in summer we mix it with Rhönfried products in food. Norbert Peeters is responsible for the medical monitoring of the colony. This year, we consulted Norbert 4 weeks before Pau, he examines, either we must intervene or not. We consider the competition return period to be very important. The pigeons remain locked in their cage for 4-5 days and are treated against common illnesses, at the same time receiving supplements necessary for their reconstruction. In December, we treat the entire workforce with Parastop and we vaccinate them with an inactivated vaccine and of course we also vaccinate PMV.”

To conclude, let's review the preparation for major competitive exams. The pigeons are trained up to 500 km, in principle every week, unless they think something is wrong. Except for Barcelona, where they train up to 14 days before the day of basketing, the pigeons are generally in the basket even the week before basketing at an international race (i.e. 9 days of rest). The Roentgens like to send their yearling pigeons twice on races of more than 500 km, to allow them to spend two nights in the basket twice. Pigeons generally fly between 1800 and 2300 km before their first international flight, the kilometers being not the most important, but rather that the pigeons have never pulled too much on the rope. Our pigeons from Pau go to St. Vincent and Marseille, the pigeons from Barcelona go to Perpignan. Yearling pigeons take part in the following competitions: Bordeaux IG Weitstrecke, Agen, Narbonne and sometimes Marseille. Yearling pigeons must, as described above, achieve 2 prizes or achieve a very good prize. Yearling pigeons without prizes usually do not stay in the loft. The older ones have already shown their value as yearling pigeons according to this principle, so as elders they forgive sometimes that they are lacking. They also play with pigeons aged 6 to 7 years old, even if they know that they no longer fly like they used to. Dennis “Even though this year everything went almost perfectly, we are aware that we must remain vigilant. The competition does not sleep. But we have no intention of stopping, quite the contrary. We decided to play better with the hens again and make the necessary changes to the loft. In pigeon sport, immobility is the first step towards retreat. The coming season we will also undertake the renovation of our own house, where we will put in a lot of personal effort, while trying to maintain our level.”

I see them as Freialdenhofen 2.0. By hanging around with them, they became carbon copies of them. They feed the same, they play the same, they select the same and here they are already double national winner and German champion. It's only a beginning. There is thought and method in everything they do. Nothing is left to chance. The level of requirements is very high and above all there is a lot of ambition. But strangely you will see that in their breeding there are not the big fashionable names. On the other hand, there is performance, logic and harmony. A lesson can be for click phenetics. 
To conclude: thank you Dennis and Eduard for the time given, have a good flight for 2024 and see you soon!

Yannick UNGERER on 02/06/2024

The best rankings in championships:

1st German Champion 2023

1st Heinz-Seegmüller Cup 2023

Fastest series of 2 National and Zone Perpignan 2023

Fastest series of 2 National and Zone Barcelona 2023

1. Golden Barcelona 2013

2nd National Mediterranean Cup 2023

2. Golden Barcelona 2022

3rd +4th +12th +17th Ace cocks 2023

3. Old Yearlings Euregio 2023

3rd National Ace Cock 2013

3. Golden Barcelona 2016

3. Golden Barcelona 2023

5th German Champion 2019

5th Atlantic Cup 2023

5th Koning Euregio 2023

6th German Champion 2013

6th German Champion 2014

10th German Champion 2018

12th German Champion 2022

TOP 20 National since 2013 (20 times top 20 including 5 times Top 10 National Barcelona)

1st Nat hens Pau 2013 (5. nat. Pau’13)

1st National Narbonne 2019

1st National hens Narbonne 2019

1st National Perpignan 2023

2. nat. Marseille’20 / 2. INT. Marseille’20 against 8400p.

3. nat. Barcelona’ 20/24. INT. Barcelona’ 20 against 16000p.

3. nat. Perpignan 2023

4. nat. Marseille 2014

3. nat. yrl Agen’15 (7. nat. Agen’15)

4. national Barcelona’ 2015

4. nat. Barcelona’22

4. nat. Barcelona’23

5. nat. Barcelona’23

5. nat. Agen’20

8. nat. Perpignan’13

8. nat. Pau’ 23

10. nat. Perpignan’22

11. nat. Barcelona’13

11. nat. Barcelona’14

12. nat. Perpignan’23

12. nat. Perpignan’18

12. nat. Narbonne’19

13. nat. Narbonne’18

13.nat. Perpignan’19.

14. nat. Barcelona’19

15. nat. Pau’20

17. nat.Perpignan’ 18

17. nat. Pau’ 23

20. nat. Narbonne’ 18