One more time (dec 23)
ONE MORE TIME
Earlier I wrote that “Duifke Lacht” is a thoughtful newspaper, publishing informative articles, some written by people who are themselves good pigeon fanciers. Sometimes some positive criticism. Jaak Nouwen, Andre Roodhooft, Patrick Philippens and Co Verbree are people with a message.
JAAK NOUWEN
Jaak, a long-distance fancier, no longer one of the youngest, has his reservations on internet auctions, such as those now in vogue. The sellers claim they are blameless, but the buyers are naive, and some auction sites promote the pigeons too aggressively. They give the impression that even if a seller offers 50 or 100 pigeons that they are all supers, while he knows in his heart, that no-one has 10 super pigeons. Jaak finds this sort of advertising very misleading. He would not buy a pigeon he hasn’t handled. Which champion would? If they do, they have an underlying reason. Still, all the fault doesn’t lie with the site administrators. They are businessmen who want the cash registers ringing away. To sell, they must make propaganda and what isn’t misleading in to-days advertising world? What is objectionable though are the lies some tell just before the “total” sale. Especially when it comes to the state of their health.
OF COURSE
Of course, Nouwen is right, no one has 10 REAL supers, and of course, there are no fanciers that breed 10% good ones of all the youngsters they produce. Don’t these buyers, after all the years of investing in questionable pigeons, realize this? The Belgians and Dutchmen apparently do.
Because no one breeds 10% good ones and that the supers themselves produce a lot of junk, paying Euro 20,000 for a young pigeon who still must prove itself, is too ridiculous for words. The true professional even though he may be wealthy, would never do it if he had to work hard for his money. Or it may have a commercial purpose. Because investing in a ridiculously expensive dud can be lucrative through the sale of its descendants, even if they are also duds, for decent money.
Good pigeons aren’t required to make money, names and stunning pedigrees even more. Better that you fly with lots of pigeons, so you can create the appearance of flying well.
INVESTING
Once I wrote about the youngsters off some of the “van de Wouwer” pigeons. At the time no one wanted them because they had never heard of him. But that soon changed, Gaston became a top flyer and now these same people, especially those from the Far East, begged for his pigeons, the ones they didn’t want earlier. Geerinckx is another fancier who was unknown for a long time. Luc had died far too young, had super pigeons, but he never walked down the path of commerce. As a result, he didn’t have the name he deserved abroad. But that changed. Now, Bart his son, pigeons are hot. You could say, justice finally. But even Bart breeds many more bad ones than good. Even more than the excellent fancier in his area who has only four pairs of breeders. He can’t produce 20 bad ones in a year.
EXAMPLE
I wrote an article in English about the “name and pedigree madness” of many foreigners and pointed out the decent pigeons were not the exclusive right of the well-known names. That fanciers completely unknown abroad had as good a pigeon in their lofts as the great champions. I was referring to Mark Janssens. Who in three years’ time had the 3rd, 2nd and 1st National Ace Pigeon KBDB. Mark Janssens? Who had ever heard of him? I certainly hadn’t, and neither had I heard of the fanciers where he got the parents of his Aces. The article was written to open eyes.
Shortly after the article, I got an Email from Mark Janssens himself. He had the national ACE pigeon with its own mother. The youngsters were offered to the administrators of a famous auction site, but they weren’t interested. Further proof that famous names are more important than quality pigeons.
BEGINNERS
What I’m going to say here is nothing new for seasoned fanciers, but there are others. Beginners, yes, we still have a few! Some of them try very hard to acquire quality. I am in Email contact with 5 of these ambitious beginners. Three from above the rivers and two in Belgium. Only thirty or so years old, including one with money. I already have a good idea who will succeed and which ones won’t. One of them I’m very sure about, the man with money. I don’t see a bright future for him. He buys from too many lofts. But, his most significant mistake is purchasing old birds. If adult birds are for sale, it is always for the same reason. I’ll let you guess why. The other beginners are on a more sensible path. They don’t buy old birds and only from two or three addresses. Preferably in the fall and mostly eggs.
Buying pigeons makes no sense if they are housed in a loft that’s no good or put them in with a lot of unfit pigeons.
MY OWN LOFT
When it comes to bad buys, with all my experience, I do know what I’m talking about. You really don’t want to see the junk I brought home from top lofts with international fame. There was nothing wrong with their descent or their quality. I don’t put any blame on those where I purchased the junkie birds. I just had bad luck. There is no doubt that there are a lot of poor pigeons born in my own loft. Concerning these newly acquired pigeons, I dare to say: that the more significant the name and the more impressive the pedigree, the worse the pigeons. That’s good news for those people who don’t have the money to make these purchases.
PAPER
People often put too much emphasis on paper, and I don’t mean result sheets. As far as pedigrees are concerned, the fuller the paper they are printed on, all the more eager some are to buy. Look at some of these genealogies, and you can see what I mean. Then there are people such as veterinarian Marien, Roger Engelen, Harrie Smoulders who are much more down to earth. On their pedigrees, there is hardly any commentary on pigeons about which much more could be said. Besides, talking about page filler. The late Stan Raeymakers knew very well what an impact paper can have. He had to organize a total sale for someone, where some birds were sold “in bis.” The selling fancier was hoping that when it came to the “in bis” pigeons the best would be left for him. Stan advised him to put very few comments on the pedigrees for the pigeons he wanted to keep as possible and lots of text on the ones for the pigeons he hoped to sell. And did it ever work!