Hazaert Gerry (Neerijse) wins 1st Provincial Narbonne with top pigeon “Maurice”

The new crack of the Gerry Hazaert colony from Neerijse in Brabant is “Maurice”. This name came about thanks to the new puppy who was allowed to be in the photo together and was also given the name “Maurice”. For several years now, Gerry has decided to focus on the long-distance races. This year, this top performer is truly a top performer; he flew early at Agen and now Narbonne even earlier. For the time being, this champion stands as 3rd National Ace Pigeon long distance among the old birds. We have to wait and see what the official ranking will be after Perpignan this coming weekend. But here too, he has another challenge ahead of him, because his first pigeon from Barcelona could also qualify among the ace pigeons.

The preferred method is widowhood

In the long-distance races, just like in the past, my favorite domain is simply the classic method with widowers. I do have a separate small loft where I play nest racing, but that will no longer happen next year, and the focus will then be even more on widowhood. The spring got off to a difficult start for him due to a hospital procedure and being banned from the loft for 5 weeks. That is why Kristian Vrebos, who lives in the same village and has only recently stopped keeping pigeons, stepped in to help. The current top pigeon is also a grandson of Kristian's best pigeon, which you can read more about later in this article.

Furthermore, Gerry has been successful, particularly through joint breeding with mentor Leo De Jonghe, Hendrik Mortier, Johan De Meulemeester, Chris Hebberecht, Geert De Schepper, Alain Delhove, Jan Polder, Guy Baerts, Wilfried Bruyneel, and Draye Denies.

So, the widowers had a difficult start due to a lack of basic fitness; they were paired on March 29, just before Gerry went into the hospital, and then the pigeons stayed together for 3 weeks without being let out. After that, they were separated and flew their first sprint race at the end of April. They then flew Momignies twice, Soissons three times, Vierzon, Valence, Agen, and Narbonne. Between Agen and Narbonne, they were not taken along or driven anymore.

At the Agen basketing, Gerry kept them together for 3 hours; now they were first locked up in their nesting boxes for an hour before being allowed loose in the loft, after which they were given straw and were stripped of their bedding in the evening.

The pigeons here always train once a day in the morning, and only the old pigeons' lofts are cleaned daily. I race the other lofts using the dry manure method so that I can immediately weed out the weak ones.

The feeding has been adjusted this year, and from now on I only feed full troughs. I mix the following blends together, and they pick out for themselves what they like best. The blends are Dynamik Vanrobaeys, Versele Sport Champion Black Label, Aidi Long Distance, and Beyers Jellema. Furthermore, I give products from the Herbots and Herbovet ranges, and I go for a check-up at Raf Herbots twice a year. This is usually before the season and in the middle of the season. Every two weeks, the pigeons receive B.S. from Belgica De Weerd for two days for disinfection.

Best results in the long distance in 2026

Agen Prov 448 old birds: 4, 9, 24, 30, 36, 43,… 11/13
Agen Nat 4,283 old birds: 70, 142, 282, 309, 339, 437, 494,… 11/13

Barcelona Prov 823 old birds: 15, 54 2/3
Barcelona Nat 5,945 old birds: 52, 283 2/3

Narbonne Prov 405 old birds: 1, 17, 18,… 5/10
Narbonne Prov 524 yearlings: 12, 15 2/5
Narbonne Nat 3,662 old birds: 5, 90, 103, 280, 327 5/10
Narbonne Nat 4,223 yearlings: 68.92 2/5

Winner Narbonne

BE 24-2070633 “De Maurice” Cock 
Provisional 3rd Nat Ace PigeonExtreme Long Distance Old Birds KBDB 2026

1 Prov Narbonne 405p – 2 Nat (z) 1.844p – 5 Nat 3.662p
4 Prov Agen 448p – 70 Nat 4.283p
3 Nat (z) Souillac 673p – 78 Nat 4.234p
38 Prov Tulle 680p

Father BE 23-2009739 Son As Rhone – Kristian Vrebos
Son of “704/15” Mister Rhone won 1st National Ace Pigeon Rhone Valley KBDB 2021 with, among others, 42nd National Marseille – 59th National Valence – 74th National Montelimar – 82nd National Montelimar x “NL 176/20” Double Jef is a double granddaughter of Jef 1st International National Barcelona J & S Rans via Batenburg – Van de Merwe

Mother BE 23-2116577 Checkered
Daughter of “800/22” Son of Narbonne who became 2nd Provincial Ace Pigeon Long Distance KBDB 2021 x “370/22” Granddaughter of 1st National Barcelona 7,774p Delhove A & S

Gerry, congratulations on this great victory from the entire HERBOTS TEAM.

Buelens Kim