Articles 2025 (English)
Feminist (12-12-25)
Feminist
'What? Does your father-in-law have pigeons? Eeeeiik.' According to a friend of my daughter-in-law. She didn't have to think about it. Her husband loved golf, she loved "being creative". "Be creative?" Is that so far above pigeons? She and another couple of ‘álternatives’ work with clay, cut corks and do other things that all girls used to do. Only now it is called "being creative" and they also receive a subsidy for it.
I would say "take away their subsidy and they get really creative". We pigeon fanciers also hold our own without subsidy, don't we? In fact, we donate. We fly for charitable causes. Once I heard such a girl group at my son's house. They were talking about men. Two of them admitted to never having been approached sexist. They were not too handsome and perhaps that is why I got the impression that they deeply regretted it. It was the president and the secretary of the the club, but of course that proves nothing and may be a coincidence….
Pigeon talk (13-12-25)
Until a few years ago, I had the habit of popping into B's every now and then. To talk about pigeons and about birds, which we both loved so much.
Some food for thought (3-12-25)
With age come the defects and no one can escape them. My mother loved life.
Luck or not ? (1-12-25)
Breeding that coveted 'super' is also a matter of (a lot of) luck.
But it is more than that.
Wrong Focus (24-11-25)
Many people know that they now also race pigeons in the Middle East, especially in the Emirates.
New friend (13-11-25)
Friends make you happy, as the ancient Greeks already knew, and being happy makes you live longer. They thought friendship was more important than love. Love can come from one side.
Sometimes incompirehensible (29-10-25)
Still remember Saturday 19 July? What a pesky races that day with unfortunately the necessary losses. The weather was quite pleasant, but the wind was South East.
Mentors and beginners (19-10-25)
Would there be sports in which beginners are left out in the cold as in pigeon sport
Not really my thing (18-10-25)
Writing columns does not happen automatically and sometimes I ask myself the question 'how long can I keep up writing something meaningful that has not already been written countless times?'.
Current (10-10-25)
CURRENT (13-10-25)
What amounts of money behind some pigeons in the Tour of Belgium. You could read about a participant who win 6,000 euros in 2 weeks time with 2 birds from 2 races less from less than 100 kms.
What is the magic of these races of barely 100 km. after the official season is finished and on which more is pooled (and can be earned) than in many National Long Distance races? There are even fanciers who only have pigeons for those few races in the autumn. They also serve as training races for some long distance racers. How do they do it? Too bad this type of game remains underexposed.
ALWAYS SELECT
For many, September is the month in which selection is made. The stricter the selection, the better the future performance. 'Kill the bad, keep the good ones, only the supermarkets retained.'
There is a catch here, because what is a good one is different for everyone. Pigeons that win about 6 prizes per ten are for some the lesser pigeons, for others the best. You have to set the bar at the maximum height, but you still have to be able to cross it.
ERROR
I myself select a whole year and will make mistakes like EVERYONE else! For example, W de Br once bred a super from a former nurse pigeon. I have also culled many pigeons that I regretted very much afterwards and kept pigeons that were not worth it. A guide:
- Racers of two years and older who have not yet performed can go. They really don't get better.
- Breeders of three years and older who don't have not given good offspring don't belong in the breeding loft either. They can only give good ones in very exceptional cases. In which you can NEVER make mistakes? Selecting on health !!!!. If you have about 50 pigeons that are healthy except for two, there is no reason for those two to exist. Get rid of them. And certainly do not cire 50 pigeons to heal two.
SO
And then there is something else: The physical. We can't look in the head but quite a few pigeons have such big defects that they can't be good ones. It is here that the experienced fancier must assist and advise the beginner.
There may be good ones without good balance, perfect feathers, throat and tailbones, but I have never seen them.
It must be said that judging is snapshots, something that Jan Zoontjens used to insist on. It is also useful to realize that if a couple gave a good one, you have no guarantee that they will do it again. Recoupling is therefore the message.
Shared experiences (2) (7-10-25)
If you race with pigeons for half a century and write articles for decades, you can't help but come into contact with many fanciers. This led to quite a few reciprocal visits. Some are still engraved in the deepest caverns of my memory.
Good to know (03-10-25)
As a teenager I didn't really know. I spent a lot of time in nature and at home among the pigeons.
Baytril Champions (26-09-25)
With age the defects come, with some a little more, with others a little less, but no one escapes them.
Signals (18-09-25)
I have never said it in so many words, but most of my columns are not meant for the better fanciers, but for fanciers who want to get better.
The old Belgian (17-09-25)
Things happen in a person's life that he won't soon forget. Like my visit to an older fellow fancier on his birthday