Anckaert Eddy (Grimminge) 1st Provincial Bourges Yearlings – Fastest of 7,172 Pigeons

Let's go back to the weekend of August 3rd. The national race from Bourges was on the calendar, with 7,172 East Flemish pigeons ready to compete for the national/provincial victory. The winner – and thus the fastest of all East Flemish pigeons – was the checkered yearling hen of Eddy Anckaert from Grimminge (located in the shadow of Geraardsbergen).

The name Eddy appears on the results, but we should also mention his son Bart in the same breath. While Eddy has always loved racing young pigeons, under the encouragement of his son Bart, he has also taken a targeted approach to racing old and yearling pigeons. The work schedule is simple. His father, Eddy, lets the young pigeons fly laps around the loft during the day, and when Bart gets home from work around 4 p.m., it's his turn to care for the old and yearling pigeons. The foundation of their colony consists of two lines. First, there's the so-called "old breed" (20%), where the Jozef Wellemans pigeons were the common thread throughout. The second important line, which accounts for 70%, is the pigeons of Crucke Koen (Onkerzele). The other 10% is filled with pigeons from various fanciers.

First year with hens

Due to a lack of time, Eddy and Bart were always a bit hesitant to start a hen loft, but in 2025 they took the plunge, and lo and behold...the ladies were anything but disappointing. Bart: "We actually race on total widowhood. Cocks and hens live next to each other, but to minimize interbreeding, we created a special hens' section this winter. My uncle and I put everything together ourselves and constructed what we consider our ideal hens' section. The hens sit on "chapels" with a partition that prevents them from seeing each other. "Rollers" have been installed on the floor to prevent them from perching, and there are only two perches at the watering can.
At the start of the season, there were 24 yearling hens. All of them had flown the last national race from Chateauroux as youngsters. The cocks' section houses six old and 12 yearling cocks.
Our provincial Bourges winner, like her loft mates, bred early. They raised their youngsters and before returning with eggs were placed in their "hens' section." This is where they spent the entire training period.
They were not paired again before the start of the season.
As mentioned, the old and yearling pigeons are cared for in the evening. Around 4:30 PM, the cocks are allowed to train, and after flying for about 30 minutes, they are called back in. At 5:45 PM, it's the hens' turn. They usually train with more enthusiasm and grit, still for the full 45 minutes. If the pigeons landed on the roof too quickly, the flag was raised, and then they knew enough.
Since many fanciers release their hens during the week, I did the same. In addition to their daily training sessions around the loft, I released them once or twice a week (Wednesdays and/or Thursdays). As a reward/motivation, the hens were allowed to enter the cocks' loft without seeing the cocks.

Care

For medical care, we spent time in veterinarian Wim Boddaert's waiting room before the start of the breeding season and the racing season. During the season, we treat pigeons based on our own instincts. Last season, for example, the old and yearling pigeons were given three three-day treatments for ornithosis. For tricho, as is often the case, they were given "yellow drops."

The feed comes from Beyers, and their menu includes IPAC mixtures. For supplements, we favor those from the Röhnfried range.

Was our winner particularly motivated? Not that we know of, but we did notice that when they were fed in the hallway, she always went to the partition door with the cocks' section and jumped around trying to get in. Apparently, something must have been wrong.

She's a lady who loves to fly top-10. She flew one national race as a youngster and four national races as a yearling. These are her results:

8th Local Chateauroux '24 against 296 pigeons (197th National)
4th Local Argenton '25 against 267 pigeons (28th Provincial)
3rd Local Bourges '25 against 165 pigeons (48th Provincial)
1st Local Bourges and 1st Provincial – fastest of 7,172 pigeons.

Eddy and Bart… congratulations on your first provincial victory and many more successes.

Stefan Mertens