Keep remembering (20-04-26)
Keep remembering
You don't want to know how many pigeon fanciers I have visited over the years. I was reminded of that when I was cleaning up again. It scared me. I came across reports written by me from fanciers that I could not remember at all. 'Why visited so many lofts?' There were several reasons for this.
- Possibly buy pigeons.
- Just for fun. To hear the latest news or to learn.
- Pick up stray pigeons.
- Making reports for some pigeon newspaper.
Many of those visits have been completely erased from my memory, some statements have stayed with me.
JEF CARLENS
When Jef Carlens was just at his best (extreme long distance) the first Easterners came here to buy. Japanese back then.
Do you know what he once said?
'If they want to buy your super or winner, add the parents if they ask for it. The chance that they will ever give another such is negligible.’’
It is reminiscent of superman Verkerk.
Bas: 'If I have a super pigeon, there are very few of them, the parents will get a different partner the following year. Because it is highly unlikely that they will ever give another super. Only later they may be mated again.'
Carlens adds: 'If your pigeons are healthy, every youngster you lose is a win.'
Fear that the Belgian long distance man is wrong here.
Somewhere I have a list with the names of fanciers who owe a lot to a lost pigeon that was reported.
FILIP HERBOTS
The name Herbots is well known in pigeon sport. Sometimes a bit controversial, but I have experienced them as correct.
Senior, unfortunately deceased, was also a fancier who had his reservations about so called 'mega lofts' and thought that the 'common man' should deal with it differently.
Flip: 'The little fancier with a limited number of pigeons, lofts, money and time often makes a big mistake:
He will also keep more pigeons, with the result that he will fall even further behind. Because of overcrowded lofts and no overview anymore. Someone with 200 racing pigeons or more sometimes has two loft managers, someone alone can never handle that. A golden rule is that you should never keep more pigeons than you can handle.
Such a man sometimes thinks 'with 20 pigeons I have no chance, with 40 I have little chance. As if it were mathematics.'
KLAK
Klak was a good friend. He had two hobbies; Pigeons and go eat in a good restaurant. At the time, a certain Piet van der Loo started with pigeons.
Piet got pigeons from Fonske Jacobs, Wim Ververs and Klak.
When he went to pick up four youngsters from Klak, Jos said: 'That's 2,000 (then) guilders.'
'A lot of money for four pigeons' said Piet and pulled out his wallet. Klak: 'Yes, and there is a good chance that there is not even one good one among them.'
What was going on in him at that time can be guessed. Klak meant to say that someone like him also breeds a lot of junk. Insiders also know that he had a kind of 'blacklist'. On it the names of fanciers who could no longer buy there, mostly people who took advantage of him.
WILLIAM AND FONSKE
I mentioned Fonske Jacobs. That was a 'Noyon player' from Sint Gillis Waas. William Geerts came from that region, settled in Schilde, and with pigeons from Jacobs he dominated Union Antwerp like no one had ever done before.
Serge van Elsacker and Michel Delen experienced how good these pigeons were. At 28 years old, Serge was the youngest 'King Union Antwerp' ever.
The Jacobs pigeons from Geerts made people think because they were 'sprint'birds. William initially raced with widowers, later also with hens.
His weekly bombing raids on the Middle Distance made the aforementioned Piet v d Loo so curious that he went to Jacobs. I often accompanied him.
I have remembered a few things from both Fonske and William. When I asked the first one if the expectations for the weekend that followed were high, he answered. 'I don't fear anyone. They are fine. Saw this morning that they hadn't made the loft too dirty and then it's fine.'
He did indeed play fantastic. When I later asked for an explanation, he said: 'Pigeons in form sit quietly in the box at night and deposit their poops close together.' Whether it makes sense has never become clear to me. William Geerts, never shy of a bold statement: 'I will continue to play well as long as I stay healthy myself.' Unfortunately, he died suddenly and young. Must have been around 2010. His words were true.
MIEL DAEMS
The late Miel Daems performed real well with his mostly gray pigeons and if someone performed real well in those days I was soon on his doorstep. Out of curiosity and for pigeons.
Because I handled the same as most champions in our sport. While they are on the hunt for good birds, some of those critics sit on the beach with their lazy asses. Well, that Miel once spoke the (for me) memorable words 'if you breed your best pigeons from your favourite couples watch out. Miel of course meant that your loft was not strong enough in width to get or stay at the top.
KLAK AGAIN
The latter is reminiscent of Klak. Almost all champions who sometimes sell pigeons use different prices, Klak had ONE and the same price for all his youngsters. 'Because you don't know which birds will produce the good babies, says Jos.
You only have a good family if you breed your best from pigeons you didn't expect it from.
1st and 2nd from 34,000: Another sweet memory,