Derwa – Luxem from Herent shines with 4 Olympiad pigeons
14 May 2022
We are all familiar with the colony of Albert & Francine Derwa – Luxem from Herent in Leuven. Albert guarantees top level in the Belgian pigeon sport and you can safely say one of the very best you can find in our country with a minimum of pigeons. Every year there are pigeons in his racing team that everyone immediately moves to his breeding loft in order to build something unique. Well, this is the key to the success here at the Derwa house, he doesn't sell the good ones… He only wants to breed from very good pigeons and preferably from ace pigeons or national winners.
If we go through the stock building a bit, everything starts with the top couple "Valentino" x "Paulien". These have resulted in a bloodline that can continue to breed top pigeons generation after generation. We list some children “De Zoon”, “Pricilla” and “Primo” but there are many more! The subsequent generations resulted in several national winners and Olympiad pigeons that we will introduce in this article.
And then there is the trio of National winners from generation to generation. It starts with “Invictus” 1st National Issoudun 16,587 pigeons, he became father of “Irina” 1st National Argenton 3,319b but also 9 x per 100 with a.o. 1st Br.Unie Blois 2,953b and 8th National Chateauroux 4,631b. “Irina” in turn became mother of “Irissa” 1st National Argenton 4,606 pigeons (fastest of 27,892 old and young birds together) and also won 53 Nat La Souterraine 9,469b, 83rd Nat Bourges 23.191b, 85th Nat Chateauroux 12,855p . We cannot present such national winners in this article because there is so much luxury of Olympiad pigeons on top of Albert & Francine.
The input of the pigeons from Paul Huls, Koen Minderhout ( Geeloger x Daughter Paulien ), Willem De Bruijn and Jan Hooymans pigeons always prove to be a bull's eye.
The game with the hens
The hen team now only consists of 14 pigeons, 1 loft has been sacrificed for the breeders who reside here now. The hen team raises a couple of youngsters as is the annual custom. They are paired at the same time as the 2nd round of the breeders. There are 12 boxes so 2 pigeons were not coupled and were just placed between the youngsters for the time being. Honesty is key with Albert. These 2 therefore had no permanent partner for the season.
Then gradually train them again after breeding, but we know that training hard with Albert's hens does not work. They prefer to pull out all the stops on Saturday, which every fancier naturally prefers. They now train 15 to 20 minutes a day and this 2x, but this is already a lot compared to other years. The pigeons have also been fed twice a day since this year, a change, but according to Albert, it is his feeling that the hens get around faster. The hens are always fed after the training on the floor that is first cleaned.
During the day the hens are always in a small aviary at the front of the loft, on the side of the loft is another aviary closed with windbreak netting where their partners stay. These are not darkened or lit, the aim is to put the hens on the nest in August to race the last nationals on a youngster. This is a success formula that has already given them a lot in terms of national achievements.
What about motivation?
I train them in the beginning and after a few short flights I start to put the cock ready after the 4th time so that they know what will happen when they come home. Afterwards they race their 1st Momignies and only get a really good look at their cock. From then on I always show the cocks 15 to 20 minutes before each flight and they are locked up box by box. I don't care much about the time they are together and I don't really watch this down to the minute. I don't do this after the flight either. In the beginning after the race I leave them together for about 4 hours and afterwards longer and longer in the middle distance. I don't notice much difference in that area, they know what it's all about once they are up and running.
The 2 hens that were among the youngsters come into the loft from March and then just fly with the other 12. They also get a partner from those 12 after the race and before the race they can also join them for a while, but for a shorter time as the other group. They serve as a reserve should one of the racing team be injured or lost. Albert always uses the same 2 cocks to motivate these 2 ladies.
Olympiad pigeons
We will briefly list the Olympiad pigeons of the 2020-2021 and 2019-2020 seasons for you. Each and every one of them unique pigeons with an incredibly strong results from speed to the national flights of the greater middle distance.
BE 18-2093024 “Davinia”
1st Olympiad bird All Round Belgium 2019-2020
1st Ace World Best Pigeon Middle Distance 2020
1st National Ace Olympic Hope All Round KBDB 2020
1st Ace Golden Veer 2019
1st Asduif yearlings LCB Vlaanderen 2019
2nd National Asduif Heavy Middle Distance old birds KBDB 2020
2nd Ace As der Azen LCB 2019
Won in total 8 x TOP 65 National – 15 x 1:100
1 Nat(z) Argenton 1.878b
7 Nat 5.158b
1 Momignies 622b
4 Nat La Souterraine 9.469b
4 Chateauroux 2.472b
34 Nat 12.855b
6 Nat Issoudun 10.603b
7 Soissons 1.601b
9 Momignies 1.467b
9 Momignies 944b
10 Nat Montlucon 14.104b
15 Br.Un Blois 3.277b
17 Prov Blois 2.258b
19 Nat Chateauroux 6.377b
21 Chevrainvilliers 1.120b
58 Nat Bourges 23.195b
65 Nat Chateauroux 20.800b
116 Nat Issoudun 11.465b
Father NL 15-3506966 Son Geeloger – Koen Miderhoud
Gr.F. NL 11-3014703 Geeloger – Koen Miderhoud
Won 1 Pithiviers 6,340b – 1 NPO La Souterraine 3,077b –
1 NPO Chateauroux 2,227b - 2 Morlincourt 1,259b - 3 Prov Gien 3,548b
Grandson “Paulien” Foundation hen Derwa – Luxem
Gr.M. BE 10-2007026 Fransiska - Derwa – Luxem
Daughter “Valentino” x “Paulien” base couple Derwa – Luxem
Mother NL 14-1209905 Daughter Harry – Jan Hooymans
Gr.F. NL 07-2007621 Harry - Jan Hooymans
Won 1 Blois 37,728b – 1 Chateauroux 22,340b – 3 Chateauroux 21,520b
Son “Jonge Bliksem” x “Dirkje”
Gr.M. NL 11-1522018 Inbred Kannibaal - Herman Pouw
BE 18-2088799 “Robby”
1st Prov Ace All Round KBDB 019
2nd Olympiad bird All Round Belgium 2019-2020
2nd National Ace Olympic Hope All Round KBDB 2020
Original Robby & Michel Soeteweye
2 Nat La Souterraine 9.469b
2 Prov Salbris 2.287b
3 Nanteuil 793b
4 Momignies 1.467b
4 Soissons 1.338b
4 Sermaises 397b
7 Soissons 1.095b
8 Soissons 1.601b
8 Momignies 822b
8 Nanteuil 443b
10 Momignies 761b
14 Br.Un Blois 3.277b
15 Nat Argenton 16.762b
19 Soissons 1.156b
21 Nat Chateauroux 24.582b
23 Melun 1.250b
25 Nat Argenton 5.158b
63 Nat Issoudun 10.603b
90 I.Prov Argenton 4.284b
Father 2119030/2013 The Lion King 030
Won 1 Soissons 487b – 2 Soissons 423b – 2 Souppes 453b – 4 Souppes 400b – 5 Souppes 403b
Gr.F. 2067929/2007 The Blue Soete
Son “337/02” Blue Topbreeder x “530/05” Blue white flight
Gr.M. 2067902/2007 Blue
½ sister 1 Nat Gueret
Daughter “044/06” Good white flight 044 x “015/04” Blue 015
Mother 2131902/2017 Pommeleintje
Gr.F. 2243536/2014 De Pollidoor – Polle Van Goolen
Gr.M. 2269613/2014 Super Mega Mindy
Daughter “024/04” Blue white flight 024 x “574/08” Blue 574
BE 18-2093030 “Sanne”
1st Nat Ace Olympic Hope middle distance KBDB 2020
3th Olympiad bird Cat.H Belgium 2019-2020
1 Melun 1.156b
1 Momignies 336b
1 Etampes 217b
3 Sermaises 397b
3 Br.Un Fay Aux Loges 387b
4 Sermaises 6.804b
12 Soissons 1.095b
21 Nat Chateauroux 20.800b
34 Nat Chateauroux 2.721b ( 1 Prov 472b )
127 Nat Issoudun 10.603b
132 Nat Gueret 7.175b
Full sister BE 19-2039030 “Tine” Hen
3th Olympiad bird All Round Belgium 2020-2021
2 Sermaises 2.151b
3 Sermaises 1.768b
4 Etampes 3.393b
4 Etampes 1.256b
5 Melun 6.951b
6 Soissons 605b
7 Sermaises 1.616b
9 Soissons 378b
9 Momignies 287b
13 Prov Chateauroux 472b
15 Soissons 1.281b
15 Br.Un Salbris 450b
19 Fay Aux Loges 1.292b
34 Br.Un Vierzon 1.539b
63 Nat Chateauroux 33.833b
183 Nat Issoudun 18.176b
310 Nat Bourges 22.502b
320 Nat Issoudun 9.777b
526 Nat La Souterraine 15.939b
Father NL 13-1395622 Son Harry – Jan Hooymans
Gr.F. NL 07-2007621 Harry - Jan Hooymans
Won 1 Blois 37,728b – 1 Chateauroux 22,340b – 3 Chateauroux 21,520b
Son “Jonge Bliksem” x “Dirkje”
Gr.M. NL 10-1083068 Sister Dolce Vita – Pieter Veenstra
Daughter “151/04” Da Vinci 1 NPO Ablis 7,946b x “293/05” Special Blue
Mother BE 14-2325319 Last Daughter Paulien
Gr.F. BE 09-2027029 Primo – 3th West European Ace All Round 2011
Son “Valentino” x “Paulien” base couple Derwa – Luxem
Gr.M. BE 06-2090139 Paulien - Derwa – Luxem
Won 1 S.Nat Chateauroux 8,218b – 1 Prov Gueret 1,298b – 2 Prov Blois 2,836b
BE 19-2039070 “Iwona” Duivin
2nd Olympiad bird All Round Belgium 2020-2021
5th Ace World Best Pigeon middle distance 2020
1 Sermaises 2.692b
1 Chateauroux 1.084b
5 NAT 33.833b
1 Issoudun 681b
16 NAT 18.176b
2 Soissons 141b
3 Prov Chateauroux 472b
39 NAT 2.721b
3 Prov Salbris 450b
4 Sermaises 4.894b
5 Momignies 242b
6 Soissons 378b
10 Sermaises 2.151b
13 Soissons 1.281b
16 Melun 1.655b
28 Fay-A-Loges 1.292b
31 I.Prov Chateauroux 3.026b
33 Momignies 2.325b
42 Melun 2.942b
47 Etampes 1.256b
76 NAT Argenton 4.606b
Father BE 16-2300359 Son Invictus
Gr.V. BE 13-2110100 Invictus – 1 Nat Issoudun 16,587b
Son “BE 12-129” Son Paulien x “BE 12-086” Granddaughter Zoon
Gr.M. BE 12-2080130 Pricilla – 9 x 1st – 4 Nat Ace Heavy M.D. KBDB 2013
4 Nat Gueret 15,007b – 5 Nat Argenton 6,795b
Daughter “Valentino” x “Paulien” base couple Derwa – Luxem
Mother NL 14-1209903 Daughter Harry – Jan Hooymans
Gr.F. NL 07-2007621 Harry - Jan Hooymans
Won 1 Blois 37,728b – 1 Chateauroux 22,340b – 3 Chateauroux 21,520b
Son “Jonge Bliksem” x “Dirkje”
Gr.M. NL 11-1912528 Daughter 800 - Jan Hooymans
Daughter “NL 08-800” The 800 1st Orleans 4,927b Gebr.Scheele x
“BE 07-828” Daughter Jaarling Dondersteen Rik Hermans
How do you guide the pigeons through the season?
I have 2 fixed ranges that I stick to, for the food this is Beyers and for the products this is Röhnfried.
For the racing pigeons I use 50% Premium Vandenabeele and 50% Casaert at the beginning of the week, after that I feed them with Galaxy Light and on the last day of basketing for national flights they get Brilliant.Every day they get a portion of peeled sunflower seeds, hempseed and fresh grit. I also do Stopmite from Comed 2 to 3 times a week. I just do this on the floor wherever they are fed and it is cleaned up every time they move back to the aviary.
I rely on Röhnfried for the products. In the run-up to the season, for example, they get one full week of Carni Speed and afterwards a lot of Hexenbier and Avidress go into the drinking water. I try to build up towards May and national races and not to use all products at once, by this he means that Carni Speed, Rotosal and Blitz will only be added from the middle distance and beyond. When he gets home, he uses Mumm along with Avipharm.
In the medical field I cleared the hens against tricho for the season for 7 days and they got soludox for 10 days. I try to avoid it as much as possible during the season and from this season I will use the yellow drops the day after returning home.
Best results 2021
Momignies 2.325 old + yearlings : 4,9,10,33,38,38,42,… 18/19
Momignies 667 young birds : 1,2,7,8,10,11,12,13,15… 11/30
Momignies 218 old birds : 1,2,3,5,8,9,9,9,12,13,13,… 30/31
Laon 569 old birds : 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,17,20,… 22/31
Soissons 1.467 young birds : 7,8,8,12,13,15,16,18,19,20,31,47,80,87,… 30/40
Melun 2.584 old + yearlings: 3,6,20,23,… 10/20
Melun 1.655 old + yearlings: 4,5,6,16,33,48,51,56,… 14/15
Melun 2.942 old + yearlings: 1,9,14,15,42,72,… 10/15
Sermaises 1.768 old + yearlings: 1,2,3,5,17,71,84,… 15/18
Sermaises 2.151 old + yearlings: 2,10,18,18,32,44,47,51,53,67,… 15/16
Issoudun Prov 2.357 yearlings : 1,12,68,… 7/9
Albert and Francine, congratulations from the entire HERBOTS TEAM with these unique achievements and your great career in pigeon sport with a minimum of pigeons.
Buelens Kim
