VANOVERSCHELDE-COLAERT (Zarren) 7th + 9th National Ace bird KBDB Long Distance

The tandem Vanoverschelde-Colaert from Zarren in West-Flanders, exists out of the husband/wife duo Donaat Vanoverschelde and Annick Colaert...they run together a busy business in sculpture...where they make both new woodcraft, restauration of wooden sculptures, organs, and so on and the reconstruction of sculptures out of the years 1600 - 1700 - 1800.
In their free time they make time for their hobby, their pigeons...where they specialize with on the long distance (as from 750km) and this with the old birds...year after year they manage to set beautiful results...in 2019 this resulted in winning the 7th and 9th national ace bird KBDB on the great long distance. 

*The start in 1981:
In 1981 Donaat started up together with his brother Thomas and filled out their first loft list. Their grandfather Alois always raced pigeons...not their father but got thanks to his son a bit of the pigeon germ as well now. 
At the beginning they raced short distance and middle distance with the young birds, but it didn't take long before they wanted to race a bit further...and this what happened, a few good ones were being tested above the 600km and also at these distance they raced top and this is how they went on to the extreme long distance rather quick with success. 
They raced in tandem until 1988, that's when Thomas moved out and started to race on his own. Donaat married in 1994 with Annick and behind their house a beautiful workshop was built with on top of that a nice row of pigeon lofts. Until 1997 they raced under the name of Donaat at the paternal house...so at the new address they had to start with another name...and this is how Donaat had the idea to involve Annick more in the pigeons by asking whether she agreed to start racing under the name Vanoverschelde-Colaert ... no problem for Annick, so the new tandem  Vanoverschelde-Colaert was born. The care of the pigeons is in the hands of Donaat. Annick does all the administration and helps once in a while with cleaning the lofts...together they enjoy the arrival of the pigeons...and yes, they still clock over here with a regular clock. 

*7th + 9th National Ace bird KBDB ELD:
Donaat  and Annick win the past season, with their small colony, the 7th and 9th National Ace bird KBDB ELD...At the provincial championship ace birds in West-Flanders only the super pigeon from Hendrik Mortier was before theirs and won the 2nd and 2nd EV Ace bird KBDB West-Flanders ELD.
Have a look at their two supers:

+3143308-2016 'Ricardo', won in 2019:
-27th national Agen 3935b
-49th national Narbonne 3873 b
-7th national ace bird KBDB eld
-2nd EV. provincial ace bird KBDB eld

In the pedigree (see below) you can find a few good pigeons which form the base of the tandem Vanoverschelde-Colaert.

+3132910-2016 'The Wizard', won in 2019:
-33rd national Sint-Vincent 2949 b
-42nd national Perpignan 3922 b
-193rd national Montauban 5408 b
-9th national ace bird KBDB eld
-2nd national ace bird BV-EB 2019
-2nd provincial ace bird KBDB eld
-1st regional ace bird 'De Vliegersclub Kortemark'

Also in the pedigree of 'The Wizard' we can find some good pigeons who take care of the base at Donaat & Annick.

*Strains and loft:
For the season of 2020 they have: 
-29 widow cocks of 2 years and older
-+/- 40 year birds
-yearly about 100 youngsters are being ringed
-on the breeding loft there are about 20 (almost all of them) proven cocks. Some of them are being used for 1 or 2 years as 'help breeder', depending of the hen that is with it. 

In a matter of strains it is hard to name some names...as they have built their own strain with pigeons from several different fanciers. Once in a while they get some new blood to cross in with their own but it takes at least 3 years before they can say anything about it. 
When you have a look at their strain you see some pigeons coming back all the time, just like : 
-3131539-2004 'Zwarte Bonga' (via Pol Lemahieu) cobreeding Jos joosen & Pol Lemahieu
she is ao. grandmother to 'Ricardo' 7th national ace bird eld KBDB 2019
                    grandmother to 'Jupiter' 4th provincial ace bird eld KBDB 2016   
                 2 x great-grandmother to 'The Wizard' 9th national ace bird eld KBDB 2019
-3014733-2010 'Zwarte Bonga hen', is  a daughter to  'Zwarte Bonga', and is mother to ao 'Ricardo' en 'Jupiter'
-3195014-2004 'Blauwe Florizoone' (via Pol Lemahieu). She is ao.:
                 mother to 'Blauwe As' 6th national ace bird eld KBDB 2014
                 grandmother to 'The Wizard' 9th national ace bird KBDB  eld 2019
                 great-grandmother to 'Ricardo' 7th national ace bird KBDB eld 2019
-3036172-1990 'Sproete'  this pigeon has many direct sons that raced really well, like f.e.  'De Bleken', 'Den donkeren', 'De Oude Marseille', and others.... these 3 brothers and more cocks and hens out of this  'Sproete' give also good pigeons of their own like f.e. 'Geschelpte sproete', '454-96',...          
 

*Medical and side products:

Vet Marc Huyghe  is being visited once a year, this for the obliged vaccination against paramyxo.

The young and year birds never get any medication...this is how only the strong survive and have built up a natural resistance. This is how they probably need less medication during their race career than others. 

Before the season starts off the old pigeons are being cured blindly against trichomoniases with tricho plus and they are also being dewormed. 

During the season they get before every extreme long distance race a pill against trichomoniases. 

At arrival they always get electrolytes in the water and next to this also one day a week naturaline (during moulting period this is 2 days a week). 

During the season all the cocks get their food and drinks separately in their box. 

*Their system:
Once the youngsters are weened, the cocks stay during their entire racing career on the same loft. They are being weaned on lofts without boxes. There are only enough chapels present. 
Most of the young pigeons are being tossed up to the border with France. A few later youngsters aren't being trained at all as youngster.
In Autumn the hens are taken out and the young cocks only have their chapels left. As year bird they are being trained further and race 2 middle distance races. The year that they become 2 the boxes are being placed (*) and can raise a couple of youngsters in Spring, this makes them more attached to their box. As 2-year old they race normally 4 nationals. 
*The pigeons from 2016 made an exception on this, they raced as 2-year olds an entire year without any boxes on the loft...and had after their training races only Bourges and Limoges...so only as 3-year old they got a box and could raise a couple of youngsters...and coincidence or not, in the team of 2016  there were their 2 ace birds of last season. 

The old cocks can breed once again after the season, and can train on a regular base. From the moment  that the first pigeons drop their 8th pin they are being kept inside until all the widow cocks are on full wings again. From then on they go out again on a regular base. In the beginning of the season they only train late in the afternoon. From beginning of June they train both in the morning as in the evening for about one hour...they don't have a scheduled time laps, this can variate according the work they have (they do try to avoid to make long trips during the season). Toward the longer distances they also are being fed up from purification (at the beginning) to a 100% sports mixture. They are also being basketed loft by loft. The hens are being showed randomly before basketing, also here there isn't a strict rule, Donaat likes to follow his own instinct. 

*Top results on the extreme long distance:
In 2019 5 out of the 7 international races are being raced (Pau and Marseille were the two that they didn't basket on). On these 5 races they always start at the top and this always with their 1st given upfront:
Agen 1-137, national 27-3935
Barcelona 8-132
St.-Vincent 2-157, national 33-2949
Narbonne 1-97, national 49-3873
Perpignan 1-132, national 42-3915
 
In the meantime Donaat & Annick are assembling a nice list of national championships extreme long distance, with always 5 quotations within this discipline. This is how they already won :
-12th national  Champion KBDB extreme long distance old birds in 2002
-15th national  Champion KBDB extreme long distance old birds in 2013
-6th national ace bird KBDB  ELD old birds in 2014
-7th national ace bird KBDB ELD old birds in 2019
-9th national ace bird  KBDB  ELD old birds in 2019

And underneath a list with their national and international top 50 notations: 
5° national Perpignan 1995
5° national Pau 2013
5° national Albi 2006
5° national Cahors 2016
6° national Cahors 1992
8° national Dax 2001
9° national Cahors 2008
11° national Perpignan 2014
13° national Libourne 2013
13° national Montauban 2015
15° national Montauban 2016
17° national Dax 1997
22° national Jarnac 2014
24° national Cahors 1996
26° national Libourne 2016
27° national Agen 2019
29° national Narbonne 1996
33° national St.-Vincent 2019
35° national St.-Vincent 2013
35° national Narbonne 2012
38° national Montauban 2008
39° national Barcelona 2018
42° national Perpignan 2019
44° national St.-Vincent 2019
48° national Perpignan 1997
49° national Narbonne 2019

5° international Perpignan 1995
12° international Dax 2001
23° international Perpignan 2014
31° international Pau 2013
39° international Narbonne 2012
43° international Dax 1997 

Next to the 2 ace birds in 2019, they had in 2014 6th national ace bird ELD KBDB with  'de blauwe as' 3014713-2010. Underneath his photo + pedigree:

In 2016  they also won the 4th Provincial Ace bird ELD KBDB West-Flanders with 'Jupiter' 3175524-2011. Underneath his photo + pedigree:
 

*End:
They never won a national victory yes, but when Noël Peiren won the 1st National Brive in 2004 they were also very happy with it as the mother came from their loft. 
And maybe they lost a national victory on Perpignan in 1995 due to several different circumstances...but they don't sit still, with a little bit of luck the national victory will come someday. 
The cooperation with his brother Thomas still works out very well. The youngsters used to move from Donaat to Thomas but now Thomas has his own breeding couples (about 4 couples). And they do sometimes a cobreeding...a nice example of how a good family connection has to be.