Business and pigeons
It was in April that I got a mail from Mr Claus from Denmark.
He had seen a bird for sale on pipa from M de Cock with the band B-12-4313903.
He studied the eyes of this bird for sale as well as the eyes of its parents.
Ant for him it was clear, something was wrong.
But there was a small problem. The bird had a DNA certificate.
Still he could not forget about it. How could he be so wrong he wondered?
Like a detective he did some research and believe it or not. He was right. The pedigree of the bird was wrong and the DNA was wrong.
Of course M de Cock did not make a false pedigree.
Something wrong with the pigeon program on his computer?
Or was the mother of the bird a hot lady?
Who knows.
But... if it was not for our Danish fancier another buyer would not have got the bird that he wanted and that he had paid for.
M DE COCK
M de Cock has had much publicity lately. He is one of the fanciers that may sell out almost completely, after the auction he will have birds for sale at any time.
Like pretty many others.
Not long ago nearly all his birds were sold for a record amount of money.
Like Thones birds also his generated more than a million. And also Thone had many birds for sale after his total auction.
He even auctioned birds in exotic countries after he sold out nearly all his birds here.
Those are real special guys.
It is really amazing how they manage to make their birds hot all over the world again and again.
It is really admirable how they manage to breed one "super bird" after the other.
Did I say Super birds? Hmm.
MUTUAL ADMIRANCE?
Young fancier Ulrich Lemmens must also have noticed that both Thone and De Cock must have real miracle birds.
Why else would he bid so much money on their birds on Pipa?
But what a coincidence.
It seems de Cock thinks Lemmens has miracle birds.
Why else would he bid so much money on his birds on Pipa?
STUPID?
So M de Cock wants birds of Lemmens and Lemmens wants birds of M de Cock.
You and me would say in such a situation: "That is perfect. Lets trade birds."
But maybe you and me are stupid. Or greedy. Or selfish.
Those guys put their birds for sale on Pipa and bid on each others birds on Pipa.
To raise the prices for Chinese?
Come on, be les suspicious please.
Everything has a reason.
If they would trade birds Pipa would not get any commission and that is not what they want. Jos and Marc are not like you and me. They are generous and philanthropic.
Is not that touchy?
THE TRUTH
Right now the auction of Leo Heremans is on. He sold nearly all his birds 5 years ago and now again he sells nearly all his birds. Over 500 total.
Without joking, when I say this man has good birds I am wrong.
He has REAL good birds. I wrote that before.
But that is not all.
People here say that not even the greatest champion manages to breed one good bird in every ten. Ten percent good? That is too optimistic for whoever.
Champions like Koopman, Verkerk, Vercamen, van Elsacker and so many others breed 200 babies every year.
Would 10% of them be any good, so 20 birds per year, that would mean 60 good birds in 3 years. Who in this world has 60 good birds?
It would also mean 540 bad birds. And, once again, that is optimistic. Not 10 percent of the birds that they breed are any good.
But lets assume Leo is different. While nobody in this world will breed 10 good birds out of 100, maybe champion Leo will breed 33 good birds out of 100, which will definitely make him the best fancier in this world.
He has over 500 birds for sale right now.
If 30% is good, which is in my opinion an illusion, about 350 birds are no good.
With 350 bad pigeons Leo has more rubbish than I have.
I do not have 350 birds that lack quality.
But what a crazy amount of money people bid on these 350 birds!
I would never get this for my proven good birds.
BOLT
For Bolt, a bird that never ever has won a first the highest bid is 160.000 euro right now. Are people that pay so much crazy or stupid?
Hmm. Maybe they are smart!
That means businesswise.
If they would use this bird as a "bull" it is no problem to breed 20 babies off it every year. With good propaganda its babies may be sold for 8.000 euro each.
And that means that in one year time the buyer will get his 160.000 euro back.
About 5 years ago, before his first total auction, I advised foreigners to visit Leo and buy his birds. They did not listen. Who the heck was Leo Heremans?
STILL
Still Leo Heremans has fantastic birds.
The blood of his birds is also in my best racers. As for short distance I would not want others. But also this man, who became world famous in a few years time, breeds birds of poor quality.
And that is something people may forget when they read all the bla bla.