No nonsense (2) (02-04-23)
No gibberish (2)
Is the loft important? 'Very important', many say. But oh, poor pigeon fancier who is searching. There are also many opinions and contradictions regarding lofts.
For example, you often read that good ventilation is important and that it must be from above.
That is why some spare no effort to achieve perfect ventilation from above and even have very expensive mechanical extraction systems installed. But what does reality show?
That many of the greatest champions have corrugated iron in their loft.
In particular Dirk van Dijck and some of his illustrious fellow citizens such as Eddy Janssen. With others you can look out through the tiles, they have even removed their 'false ceiling' or slide in the ceiling that they never use. Like Leo Heremans.
The late Dirk van Dijck, on the other hand: 'I prefer a loft without ventilation from above.' In earlier years there was a kind of curse on corrugated iron roofs. "Couldn't be worse."
It sometimes sounded so convincing that people who played well in a pen with corrugated iron threw them off and replaced them with tiles.
They may exist, but I don't know of any that played better then.
HOFKENS
'You have to do compensation breeding, pairing big pigeons with small ones' is often said. The late Gust Hofkens, who was a renowned breeder of good pigeons, thought otherwise.'The so-called compensation breeding leads to nothing', he claimed.'With that you keep breeding pigeons that are too big or too small. It is better to couple good pigeons that are a bit large or small with pigeons of normal size.
So not big against small, but 'big against normal and small against normal.'Normal should be the norm, although you get the impression that the normal is taking on a different meaning. That the good ones have gotten smaller over the years.
PHILIP HERBOTS
If you compare the coefficients of pigeons between countries such as Belgium and Germany, the differences are sometimes poignant.
That of course has everything to do with the numbers of pigeons in competition.That is why not only that should be taken into account, but also the number of basketers, as the late Philip Herbots rightly claimed.
Because 900 pigeons basketed by 7 fanciers or 100 pigeons basketed by roughly 35 fanciers normally makes a substantial difference in quality.
Commercially, a pigeon that beats 900 competitors (entered by 7 fanciers) is more interesting than a winner of 100 pigeons entered by 35 fanciers. However, I prefer the latter.
VETERINARY SURGEON
After I had read in a scientific paper that a shortage of vitamins had never been shown in well-cared for pigeons, I pointed this out to a well-known veterinarian. He couldn't argue with that.
Then I asked him why he sold it anyway. His answer was fairly honest: 'I have also often doubted the usefulness of it. But the fanciers want it and ask for it. The customer is king and I also have to eat.
VAN DER WEGEN
In earlier years I regularly participated in a forum at Eyerkamp. At that time that name was mainly known for their breeding station.I have forgotten most of it, but not that statement by ‘fondman’ Toon v d Wegen.
When he was once asked during such a forum how pure the van der Wegen pigeon was, they meant whether there was much other blood in his pigeons, he was not speechless as was thought.
Toon: 'Pure? What is Pure? If you add milk to a cup of coffee, what do you say you're drinking? Coffee right?'
GUST JANSEN
Gust from Beerse has performed well throughout his life, mainly with descendants of gifts or with pigeons that he traded.In that respect he showed a lot of resemblance to Albert Marcelis.
Paying for pigeons? Both hated that.You would almost conclude that they must be real connoisseurs.Gust was proud of his pigeons and loved to show them to visitors.When I was there once with a foreigner.
Gust pushed some pigeons into his hands.He studied them long and carefully. Gus smiled.'I also like to judge', he said, 'but we will never find what we are looking for because it cannot be seen on the outside'.
CARLENS
In my younger years I visited Carlens ONE time, to collect a pigeon for a voucher. Carlens was the breeder of the then famous Fabiola.He had a basket of youngsters ready for me to choose from.
"Can everyone choose here or just me because you like me so much?" I joked.Carlens:'Everyone can choose, that's part of my way of selecting. Most go home with the worst, that is, the biggest.
Because they confuse size with strength. And if they take the worst, I'll keep the best. It's that simple.'I doubt if he meant it 100% and in 2023 it seems less applicable. After all, fanciers developed a preference for smaller pigeons. Especially in the far east where most flights are long and heavy.
Carlens also:'If you have a super and people want to buy it together with the parents, do it quickly.The chance that the parents will ever breed another super is negligible.'
STABEL
Although the results of one-loft competitions show otherwise, Antwerp residents in particular believe that they have the best pigeons in the world.Yet you hear more and more about fanciers who get a super from a foreign sportsman.For example, Stabel from Goirle had a phenomenal pigeon from the late Tony Hesket England.
Dutch Peter Colijn once had a super, bought by L Claessen, with English ring, bred by 'P Fox.Jos Vercammen had a super from German Dr. Schwiedde. Half a Pole (Marek) is a super and a very impressive winner comes from a pigeon from Verkerk.The competition will, certainly in the vitesse, still be the strongest in Belgium, but they have good ones everywhere nowadays.
The frustration of many foreigners is that they are happy if they can buy (mostly bad) pigeons here and even happier if we, the Dutch and Belgians, want (sometimes good) pigeons from them for free.
STABEL EN CO
Hoewel de uitslagen van eenhokwedstrijden anders tonen menen vooral Antwerpenaren dat zij de beste duiven van de wereld hebben.
Toch hoor je steeds meer over liefhebbers die een super bekwamen van een buitenlandse sportgenoot.
Zo hadden vader en zoon Stabel uit Goirle een fenomenale duif krijgen van wijlen Tony Hesket Engeland.
Nederlandse Peter Colijn had ooit een super, nog gekocht door L Claessen, met Engelse ring, Gekweekt door ' P Fox.
Jos Vercammen had ooit een super met een Duitse ring. Ik meen van dr. Schwiedde. Een halve Pool (Marek) is op zijn hok een super en een zeer indrukwekkende vooruit vlieger komt uit een duif van Verkerk.
Uit de oudheid herinner ik me dat Frans van Breda Merksplas een Nationale Asduif had. Gekweekt uit een Duitse duif.
De concurrentie zal, zeker op de vitesse, nog wel het grootst zijn in Belgie maar goede hebben ze tegenwoordig overal.
De frustratie van veel buitenlanders is dat ze blij zijn als ze hier (veelal slechte) duiven kunnen kopen en nog blijer als wij, Nederlanders en Belgen, (soms goede) duiven van hen gratis willen.