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That is the way

Some things in life I really cannot stand.

Waiting for example. I hate to wait in a traffic jam and I hate to wait at the doctor.

I cannot stand people who drive o so slowly on the left lane and I cannot stand kiss dances.
Only God knows how many hours I have spent in the toilet when there was a kiss dance at a party.

Another thing I cannot stand is pigeon fanciers that mislead others, especially not if  those others are novices.

And believe me, misleading fellow fanciers, on purpose or not, happens a lot.

 

NOT RIGHT

Many people think that you can forget becoming a champion if you do not have plenty of time and plenty of money.

They wrongly claim money will destroy the sport.

I do not agree.

In my opinion it may be a disadvantage when you are loaded with money.

- People with money are less alert when buying birds.

- People with money tend to have too many birds. They do not select strictly enough.  

On the other hand people with little money will be more attentive when importing birds. They do not easily fall for names, strains or pedigrees.

They know they just have to be a bit smarter.

People with little money will select stricter.

And selection is of vital importance.

All champions differ but they have one thing in common: They are strict selectors.

They get rid of birds that others will put in the stockloft.

What I mean to say is that you do not necessarily have to spend much money to get  good birds.
And that you need not spend many hours in the loft daily to be successful.

 

  1. S.

Really, pigeon sport is not that difficult. I daresay I have raced very well all my life.

In 2012 I won a record of 14 first prizes, in 2013 I became 1st Champion old birds in "H v Brabant" (name of the fed).

But never did I pay attention to things such as the seventh flight, square breeding plumes, white toes, tail flights with
a white flag and my idea about eye sign should be well known.

I do not know what eye colour to mate with what eye colour because about eyes I know as little as about muscles.

Nevertheless I never had a bad season throughout all those years and, even more, I seldom had a poor race.

But are not the greatest champions those that claim to know little about pigeons?

Especially novices should not let themselves being fooled about all that they hear or read.
Because the result may be that they pay attention to things that are not worth to  pay attention to.

 

SIMPLE

Breeding many birds, racing many birds and eliminating many birds is the road that will lead to success.
Eliminating should mainly be based on results and natural health.

Good birds is what you need!  And what distinguishes good birds from just birds is orienteering
(a good compass), stamina, natural health and love for the own territory.

These things however cannot be seen in white toes, the seventh flight or in the eyes.  

And drugging then?

Hmm. I do not believe in drugging.  

Moreover, what would be the sense of making birds fly faster if they are too stupid to take the shortest way home?


The loft from Boeckx, far from fancy, but the pigeons in this loft perform real well.



IN PRACTISE

People who once raced well and afterwards became average will know best what I mean.
In their glory days they were suspected of having secrets till they did not have the good birds any more. And together with the good birds they lost their secret.

Champions such as Eddy Janssen, Diels, Boeckx, Stickers Donckers and so on became champions even though they never spent money on pigeons.

And their fantastic racers are in lofts that are far from fancy.

The lofts of Janssens and Boeckx can easily be crowned as the ugliest of Belgium.

Still their birds performed excellently on these lofts.

Concerning this the story of Eddy Janssens is interesting.

In 2012 he got tired of being laughed at his ugly loft. He had made some money on selling birds and decided to build a new one.

And what kind of. It was a dream. The isolation, ventilation and so on were all according to the rules.

With their mouths wide open fellow fanciers gasped at the fairy-tale like lofts.

Would the results become better than they already were? 

It was the opposite. In their new palace the birds refused to perform!

The old lofts of Eddy Jannsens are against all rules, but has proven to be good.

LOFT

The loft is very important for the condition. And condition is important to perform.

Books have been written about the lofts. They should be well insulated and ventilated and flat roofs should be avoided.

That is the theory. The old lofts of Eddy Janssens on which he was so successful had flat roofs.
The lofts of short distance champion v d Bulck have flat roofs as well. 

People isolate their lofts to have as little difference as possible between temperatures in the daytime and at night.

Stickers Donckers, the short distance Ace must laugh with this.

His lofts are isolated by means of gauze. Their young birds are housed in open aviaries. And they perform like hell.

 

THE BROTHERS

I once had my so called super and his nestbrother.

I could not tell them apart. Same colour, same wing, same body and naturally same parents. I had to check the bands to see who was who.

But in the races there was a great difference. The super was a super, his brother absolutely worthless.

"If the brother of a super does not race well he is the breeder" some claim.

What is this theory based on?

"Ha",  you may think. You should breed from the super itself!

You should nothing.

The only thing you should have is luck. And luck can be helped a bit.   

The formula is, as I said before, breed many birds, race many and cull many.

Or' Eliminate the bad birds, sell the good ones and keep the supers.

 

IN CONCLUSION

And what about feeding then?

Ludo Claessens used to say that feeding is the least important thing in this sport.

Also Roodhooft says he knows nothing about feeding.

This may sound strange but' nor do I.

And still'. I have performed real well all my life and so has Andre.

 

With money you can buy the most beautiful dog of the world, but you cannot buy the wagging of its tail.