Herbots | La Souterraine I: Yearlings

It was damn hot as we stepped out of the air-conditioned car. The thermometer was easily flirting with 30 degrees. Roger, Godelieve and son Nick were waiting for me and a few minutes later we already had the national winner "Blue Dream" (B23-6019057) in our hands. "Blue Dream" not only won in her category against 7,368 yearling birds but was also the fastest of all 12,611 La Souterraine racers.

"Blue Dream...even though there were several letters here nobody saw her coming" Roger starts his story "Suddenly a flash above our heads and after some lingering she let herself register. This is our 2nd national win. In 2021 we also won from Argenton. "Blue Dream" was at the top of the poule letter as previously she already won 62nd Nat. Argenton 11,777d. and 216th Nat. Bourges 18,785d. . You can have confidence in such pigeons, we think here.

Piquant detail...the Thys team took off hard on this national La Souterraine race

7,368 yearlings: 1-5-38-40-55 (6/9)
5,243 olds: 109-118-442 (3/3)

Systeem

Our race team 2024 was 40 units strong. Meanwhile, some have already perished on the field of honour or been selected out. Both sexes have regular partners staying home. That is perhaps the motivation needed at homecoming, having something you fly home for. In the winter period, the old racing hens are paired with the best widowers and raise a round of youngsters. This way we have faster breeding results from our best racers that are still on the racing lofts at that time. We prevent the hens from laying a second time and the hens return to the aviary when the young are 14 days old. The yearlings do not breed and this mainly because of the long darkening with the youngsters and the races that last until September.

After the breeding period, we start taking them out every day again, but the training sessions are never very hard or extremely long. We are already very happy if our pigeons stay in the air for half an hour. That is why we choose to let the pigeons out twice a day in April and as they compete in the middle distance races, we reduce this to once a day. It is important that the pigeons get a good preparation and are flown in without forcing them.

The hens are darkened from 1 March to 3 weeks before Bourges I. We do not do this with the widowers.

During the day, the widowers have the choice between their trouser pen and an aviary, the hens are kept outside in an aviary during the day and when they come inside, they go to their resting pen where they can sit in small boxes and where there are rollers provided on the floor to prevent mating among themselves. Only when it is very hot do we allow hens to choose between the resting pen and the aviary because otherwise it can get too hot in the aviary. Both aviaries are only open at the front to avoid draughts.

Since 2021, we have switched to the Aidi mixtures which we feel very comfortable with. During the week in season, the racers get Flymix 1 , 2 or 3. From the middle distance onwards, we use Girl Power for the hens and add Flymix 3 on the last day, which we also use when they arrive home.

For medical checks, we always go to Dr Mariën and use his condition powder weekly and his condition syrup once a month. In season, the pigeons get yellow drops over the food every Sunday. When the pigeons come home, we always give Belgasol from Belgica De Weerd. As extra supplements during the week, we mainly use Health Elixir or Condition Booster by Aidi.