Fabels (28-05-24)
'Fabels' is the name of a kind of roadside restaurant in the area. I sometimes go there for coffee after a walk in the nearby woods.
After friend Jan pointed me to an app, which I enjoy a lot, even more. That app registers the song of birds, reports the name with photo and all.
Click on it and you will get a wealth of information about the bird in question. Meadow birds here are mainly history, but there are still some others in the woods.
So if you see a not-so-young man in a cap sitting on a bench near Fabels, looking intently at his phone, then...
26 different birds in one place is my record.
Blackbirds, robins, chitchaffs and crows score the most.
IN PIGEON RACING
In pigeon sport there are quite a few views and opinions that I classify 'for myself' under the heading 'fables'.
'For myself' because of course you can think differently and I may be wrong. Because, of course, it's not the case that something is true because I think it.
Below are some examples that are fables for me.
Sometimes I repeat myself, but who doesn't do that when he writes columns every week.
By the way, did you know that fables was one of the reasons that got me into pigeon racing? In my early youth I heard so much nonsense from pigeon fanciers, fables so to speak, that I thought: Excelling in such a sport with so much silliness can't be difficult. I was already champion in my teens, around the turn of the century I was forbidden to pool money and expelled from young bird racing, in May 2024 there was this race when fanciers who entered 30 to 90 birds were still waiting for their first when all my 12 were home.
FULL MOON
In the past I didn't understand people who thought that you breed better pigeons if you couple with a full moon. But to my surprise, I still come across that view on a regular basis. Even with better fanciers.
I've never read anything meaningful about 'the why'. I can't think of any reason why I don't think it's a myth. Like those special lights that, according to ‘a pigeon writer’, you would need for winter breeding. With all due respect, I don't believe a word of it. Nor in that 'device' of which he writes of about 1,000 euro to get better quality water.
FEED
Feeding is another thing. In my younger years, ambitious as I was, I was curious about how the champions of that time fed.
Only to come to the conclusion that they all thought differently.
It made me even more skeptical as I am by nature.
Until I started helping Klak clock pigeons just before electronic clocking came into vogue. He gave just about the cheapest mixture there is, a whole year to all his pigeons. And where did you see healthier pigeons than in his loft?
Since then I no longer believe in boosting by means of food, no longer in a better moult by moulting, no longer in barley to keep pigeons calm and at weight, no longer in hemp to make them angry, in short, in very little.
Those national toppers with Koopman in the lead that makes it easy for themselves is increasing every year. In other words, champions who act like Klak.
It makes me feel less lonely.
In fact, what some people do with youngsters, weekly 'light to heavy' (energy-rich) food seems rather harmful. At a time when Adeno/Coli is lurking, you should spare the intestines and digestion as much as possible.
APPLE CIDER VINEGAR AND BAYTRIL
Now that the words Adeno and Coli have been mentioned, few who do NOT have to deal with them. A few years ago they thought they had found it. Apple cider vinegar.
After the Dutch stuntman Peter v d Merwe had clapped out of the school over a cup of coffee, I knew for sure:. All that apple cider vinegar was (yet another) myth. Peter had a bit of trouble with the young pigeon disease every year, so he tried apple cider vinegar and never had such problems.
And speaking of problems after treatment. Two winters ago we lost very good pigeons after a cure with Baytril. So it is not the panacea as hoped.
SHOWING PARTNERS AND STUFF
I've never believed in pre-flight showing partners.
Conditioning is a very important aspect in pigeon sport but this is not one of them.
Animals that you want to learn are rewarded AFTER the achievement. Think of dogs, dolphins, horses and... Pigeons.
The main teacher in our sport is called empiricism.
For the disbelievers, therefore, the following: If you have multiple departments, like most these days, you should show the partner before basketing to the birds in one compartment and not to the others.
Be sure you'll never show again. It doesn't matter whether you race 'double widowhood' or not.
What strengthened me even more in my conviction was what Etienne Devos experienced. He had two cocks in a loft that raced fabulously. One of them came back from a national race (I think he won 2nd) to not fly to his hen but to his loft mate. He grabbed it by the scruff of the neck, dragged it like a dog does with a rabbit, and showed him all the corners of the hutch. That's what Etienne said, and he really hadn't been drinking.
WELL
I once wrote, I think the best system is to race hens with a partner at home.
Only one system seems better.
Years ago I had hens that performed unbelievably.
That was in a year of experimentation: A paired cocks with two hens. Yet it only lasted one year. After the flight, it was to go crazy. You had to be in the loft to separate one of the two each time or there would be deaths.
With the sweat on your face you were toiling in the loft and there was no question of seeing other pigeons arrive after the first one. I was the only one who raced with hens then, kept my mouth shut, but couldn't keep it up.
Clubmate Rik was also going to apply that system but... an improved version. Rik raced with one hen and kept the other one that was paired with the same at home. And what he had not been able to do before, he did now: win first prizes against thousands of pigeons. It is a bit reminiscent of the spectacular results of the late Cor Leytens. That's where the spectacle started when hens became so angry with each other that he had to keep them apart to prevent a massacre. Two hens paired with a resulted in a 1st National Orleans for me. And (back then!) a lot of money.
One of the old timers with crazy results.