We also received an extra basket for the pigeons on the national flight from Argenton, which are enough in the meantime, but it is otherwise fun of course. The winner of the old pigeons is a 2-year old hen that comes from Wim & Bert Janssens from Kapellen in Flemish Brabant. These are two more fanciers who belong to the younger generation of our database and for whom a national victory is of course the highest they have achieved so far. This is of course fantastic for such enthusiasts and gives them a boost to continue with this.

They have only been playing at the current location for about 5 years, both grandfathers used to participate in pigeon racing, but since they were no longer there, the pigeons also disappeared into the background. Until suddenly the itch started again in 2018 and a pigeon loft was built here at Wim's home. In the beginning it was purely speed that they played and they had bought pigeons from Alfons Slaets from Lint. It soon became apparent that this was not their thing and that playing national flights would be more their preference. This is how they came into contact with Steve Smits who helped them with several pigeons as well as advice on how to race early for those national races. For Steve himself, pigeon racing is over, but he is still very pleased with this national victory with his breed of pigeons.

The racing team consists of 20 hens that are raced in classic widowhood; not too many frills or sitting in the loft all day is simply not possible here. Busy jobs and children are the everyday things of life, pigeon racing is purely a hobby here in which both brothers help each other. 

A later start to the season due to lack of time was also the case, they did not fly their first Momignies until April 26. The hens were still breeding and after the flight from Momignies the eggs were lost and they were raced in widowhood. The hens' partners are always shown very briefly at basketing and after the flight they are always allowed to stay together until the next day. A pigeon never flies outside here on Sundays, that is really a day of rest for them. 

The hens were darkened from the beginning of March to mid-May with the aim of being able to race the national flights. The hens train once a day in the beginning, but in the longer middle distance season they are still outside twice a week. The pigeons have flown in and for us this has saved us some work and we don't really feel necessary. They normally all fly national flights and usually Soissons in between. 

The old Argenton team did excellently with 1,208,271,408,722,… against 8,867 old pigeons and 7 pigeons of 8 in the prizes. The yearlings were less present, but in our opinion they have too little experience or to be able to compete with the better pigeons from our region. As a youngster they usually always fly Bourges or another national race, but that was not the case last year. 

They also rarely visit the vet when it comes to medication. We normally always visit Stijn Rans in Herent, but due to a lack of time we were unable to do so this year and we visited Benny Jacobs in Vissenaken. This is also the case in the field of nutrition, we have been using the Paloma mixtures for several years on the recommendation of Steve Smits and we are satisfied with this. As an extra, we add garlic to the drinking water, vitamin Ral to the food and occasionally add acidification to the drinking bowl. We don't like to give a lot of medication. 

The national winner will get some rest from now on, her flying career is over. The other hens are now heading towards Soissons and then Argenton is waiting again.

BE-22-2070305 Blue Hen
1st National Argenton 8.867 old birds (fastest 20.051p)

Bert & Wim, congratulations on this great victory from the entire HERBOTS TEAM.

Buelens Kim