Hensen – Mentior ( Aubel ) – 1st National Champion Sprint Youngsters KBDB 2022
18 Apr 2023
We drive towards the beautiful municipality of Aubel in the province of Liège and visit the tandem Hensen – Mentior. A beautiful view over the hills and in their garden they see the pigeons arriving from 10km away. The combination does not actually consist of a duo but of a trio. Father Freddy and Bertrand Hensen form a combination with Francois Mentior who, despite his age of 86, still comes to wait for the pigeons at the races. But it is therefore for Freddy and Bertrand who take on the work, crowning their wonderful 2022 season with the title of 1st National Champion sprint youngsters KBDB 2022 and that most prizes were won with 2 half-brothers from their best pigeon ever, but this title only better. It was easy to imagine that this title was in the air when you saw how many times they were mentioned as ace pigeon of the month in our LCB Championships. These pigeons were at the top of the results week after week and are among the very best pigeons in the sprint of the 2022 season.
The pigeon sport started here in 1993 and they have been forming a duo to race together for a long time, but in 2010 there was a new restart thanks to the pigeons from Deno – Herbots via Jean D'Haeseleer, Michel Hovens, Thibaut – Boons, Didier Delhez and Julien Nibus. Actually all top colonies that have ensured that the crossings have been successful here. We skip a few years and therefore go to the year of birth of "Super 70", the crack pigeon among these pans that won 8 pure first prizes and a total of 14 x top 3. As a result, this topper became 2nd Olympiad pigeon Cat.A 100-400km in 2019 and was he not sold, the choice to have and keep such a crack in the breeding loft was the golden move for the following years. Because not only the best 2 youngsters come from this "Super 70", but also the best yearling that is presented later in this article is a son of this topper and again with another hen, so with 3 different hens this super breeder really gives toppers.
There are 40 widowers ready for the 2023 season. A loft of +- 15 pieces for races from longer middle distance and long distance and +-25 pieces for the middle distance and sprint. These 2 groups are together in the loft so that they are usually basketed at the same time and we do not have to disturb all the pigeons every day. They all train together once a day because a larger group brings more momentum during the training, in the months of April and May it is possible that the pigeons train twice a day, but that is not a fixed rule.
The widowers are allowed to breed for 7 days at the end of January and around March 20 they can do that again. The last breeding period also serves to train the pigeons well and to make them understand the game of widowhood.
The motivation we use for them is easy, we always show the hen but the dish is not always involved. Certainly in the beginning this is not necessary because the season will be long enough. The time period that the hen is shown for sprint and middle distance is very short ( 2 to 3 minutes ) and ready. The cocks of the other group that have to basket for 2 or 3 nights get to see their hen for 15 to 20 minutes, but always with the saucer.
When they return home, the difference in duration is of course identical to before basketing, those for the sprint see each other for one hour, the middle distance for 2 to 3 hours and the pigeons for even further can stay together until the evening.
Thanks to these results, they became National Champion Sprint Youngsters KBDB 2022
4/6 Rethel 328p : 4 – 1
9/7 Rethel 949p : 3 – 4
16/7 Rethel 1,218p : 1 – 3
6/8 Rethel 853p : 2 – 3
20/8 Dizy 780p : 6 - 4
27/8 Trelou 627p : 1 – 2
The super loft of the youngsters
The lofts of the youngsters are also divided into 2 groups, the 1st round consists of about 60 pieces and is darkened from April 1st to June 21st. The period from April 1 will be moved to March 15 in the 2023 season because we noticed that the pens were difficult to keep at the end of the season. The 2nd group is about 30 pieces and they are not darkened but are simply trained well.
Our best pigeons of this season were of course in the first round, but unfortunately we also lose like everyone else. Because of this we could not use the sliding door method because we only had 5 hens and 17 cocks. So we let the pigeons do the whole season, but our 2 best cocks “Super 12” and “La Top 49” did have a permanent hen and a litter. We tried to play the others a bit on jealousy, but we didn't bring old partners or anything into the lofts.
What we do find important with youngsters is training, the first time they go into the basket if they train well at home is 5 to 6 km. We do this 2 or 3 times so that they can confidently find their loft. Then we go in several steps up to 25 km (Sprimont) and they are trained there at least 10 times before they go with society. After the eclipse has been lifted, the youngsters train 2x a day and 2x a week, the morning training is then replaced by a training flight of 25km.
In order to keep them under control until the end of the season, we also illuminated them from 10 July to the 2nd week of September from 5:30 am to 10:30 pm.
Toppers of the 2022 season
BE 22-1039812 “Super 12” Blue Cock
1 Ace Pigeon of the Month July LCB 2022
1 Ace of Aces youngsters LCB 2022
1 Ace pigeon sprint youngsters LCB 2022
6 Nat Ace Pigeon Sprint Young Birds KBDB 2022
1 Rethel 1.218p
1 Trelou 912p
1 Trelou 627p
2 Rethel 853p
3 Rethel 949p
3 Rethel 442p
6 Trelou 333p
6 Dizy 780p
8 Dizy 1.198p
15 Trelou 459p
27 Dizy 605p
Father BE 16-1146670 “Super 70”
1st Prov Ace Pigeon sprint old birds KBDB 2018
2nd Olympiad Pigeon Cat.A 2019
5 Nat Ace Pigeon Sprint Old Birds KBDB 2018
17th Nat Ace Pigeon sprint yearlings KBDB 2017
Won 8 x 1st – 4 x 2nd – 2 x 3rdWon 1/738p – 1/598p – 1/457p – 1/381p – 1/372p – 1/207p – 2/1,184p
Gr.F. BE 14-1171915 Blue
Son of “084/13” Blauwe 84 won 4 Prov Auxerre x “759/11” De 59 Hen Cliegnet M Super breeding hen
Gr.M. BE 14-2320696 Blauw – Deno Herbots ( Inbred to stock sire Beckham )
Daughter of “284/12” Grote Beckham” x “660/11” Sister Gina 1 Nat Ace Pigeon Gr.M.D. KBDB 2008 and daughter Beckham
Mother BE 19-1158844 La 44 Hovens x Thibaut – Boons
Gr.F. BE 14-1011740 Blue - Thibaut – Boons
Son of “626/08” Blue Pros x “485/12” Zaza Thibaut – Boons
Gr.M. BE 15-1154190 Blue – M Hovens
Daughter of “424/13” Niko Junior Thibaut – Boons is son of “Niko” 4 Nat Ace Pigeon H.F. KBDB 2013
x “754/14” Blauw ½ sister 8 Nat Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB ‘14
BE 22-1039849 “La Top 49” Blue Cock
1st Ace Pigeon of the month August LCB 2022
3rd Ace pigeon sprint youngsters LCB 2022
4th Ace of Aces youngsters LCB 2022
8th Nat Ace Pigeon Sprint Young Birds KBDB 2022
1 Dizy 531p
1 Trelou 333p
2 Trelou 627p
3 Rethel 1.218p
3 Rethel 853p
4 Rethel 949p
4 Dizy 780p
8 Dizy 605p
14 Trelou 912p
Father BE 16-1146670 “Super 70”
1st Prov Ace Pigeon sprint old birds KBDB 2018
2nd Olympiad Pigeon Cat.A 2019
5 Nat Ace Pigeon Sprint Old Birds KBDB 2018
17th Nat Ace Pigeon sprint yearlings KBDB 2017
Won 8 x 1st – 4 x 2nd – 2 x 3rdWon 1/738p – 1/598p – 1/457p – 1/381p – 1/372p – 1/207p – 2/1,184p
Gr.F. BE 14-1171915 Blue
Son of “084/13” Blauwe 84 won 4 Prov Auxerre x “759/11” De 59 Hen Cliegnet M Super breeding hen
Gr.M. BE 14-2320696 Blauw – Deno Herbots ( Inbred to stock sire Beckham )
Daughter of “284/12” Grote Beckham” x “660/11” Sister Gina 1 Nat Ace Pigeon Gr.M.D. KBDB 2008 and daughter Beckham
Mother BE 17-1080594 Blauw – Michel Hovens
Super breeding hen
Mother of “989/19” 1 Prov Ace pigeon Sprint yearlings
Mother of “607/20” 1st Ace pigeon youngsters with a.o. 1/1,428p – 3/1,251p
Gr.F. BE 13-9020499 Blue - Michel Hovens
Brother of “Paris” 6 Nat Ace pigeon sprint KBDB 2015
Son of “041/12” Blue x “485/12” Zaza Thibaut – Boons
Gr.M. BE 15-1065014 Blue - Michel Hovens
½ sister “Vikie” 3 Nat Ace pigeonGr.M.D KBDB 2015
½ sister “Ander” 8 Nat Ace pigeon sprint KBDB 2014
Daughter of “474/13” Blue x “132/09” Blue
BE 21-1021710 “The 710” Blue Cock
1 Ace pigeon sprint youngsters LCB 2021
2 Prov Ace pigeon youngsters 2021
2 Ace Pigeon Ace of Aces youngsters 2021
3 Crack pigeon Liège 2022
1 Dizy 474p
2 Dizy 1.004p
2 Trelou 856p
2 Rethel 665p
3 Rethel 1.136p
7 Rethel 214p
8 Dizy 558p
8 Dizy 233p
11 Rethel 900p
14 Rethel 394p
15 Rethel 703p
15 Trelou 449p
15 Trelou 260p
19 Dizy 731p
19 Rethel 599p
21 Trelou 1.072p
27 Dizy 510p
50 Trelou 1.449p
Father BE 16-1146670 “Super 70”
1st Prov Ace Pigeon sprint old birds KBDB 2018
2nd Olympiad Pigeon Cat.A 2019
5 Nat Ace Pigeon Sprint Old Birds KBDB 2018
17th Nat Ace Pigeon sprint yearlings KBDB 2017
Won 8 x 1st – 4 x 2nd – 2 x 3rdWon 1/738p – 1/598p – 1/457p – 1/381p – 1/372p – 1/207p – 2/1,184p
Gr.F. BE 14-1171915 Blue
Son of “084/13” Blauwe 84 won 4 Prov Auxerre x “759/11” De 59 Hen Cliegnet M Super breeding hen
Gr.M. BE 14-2320696 Blauw – Deno Herbots ( Inbred to stock sire Beckham )
Daughter of “284/12” Grote Beckham” x “660/11” Sister Gina 1 Nat Ace Pigeon Gr.M.D. KBDB 2008 and daughter Beckham
Mother BE 16-1186386 Blue – Julien Nibus
Super breeding hen and also mother of “662/20” 1 Ace pigeon middle distance 2022
Gr.F. BE 11-1002711 Blue - Julien Nibus
Ace pigeon Prov youngsters 2011
Son of “630/05” Le Gaby ( Vandenabeele x Nibus ) x “428/07”
½ sister James Bond 1 Nat Bourges Gaby Vandenabeele
Gr.M. BE 07-1007025 Blue - Julien Nibus
Super breeding hen
Mother of several 1st prov winners
Grandmother of 1 Int.Nat Narbonne 18,927 pigeons by Bernard Hunerbein
Daughter of “352/99” Mont Ventoux won 1 Nat Ventoux ’04
Care
The mixtures that are used here all year round come from Colombi. They work with a low-protein, a sport and an energy mixture. The additional products used also come from this company, either from Schroeder – Tollisan or Röhnfried.
For the medical story we always check with Vincent Schroeder in Kerkrade, on his advice the youngsters were vaccinated against Rota-Paramxyo-Circo during weaning and 3 weeks later Paramyxo-Herpes-Adeno. In 2022 this will only be the first vaccination, but for 2023 there will be 2 for paramyxo without forgetting the smallpox vaccination of course. A regular tricho cure is on the agenda for the racing season with Tricho green over the feed and afterwards we always work with the yellow drops on Thursday, the pigeons that go into the basket on Thursday get these on Wednesday. We do not do this individually pigeon per pigeon, but do this on a smaller portion of feed and then give the other food without giving anything up. The system is simple, but the results don't lie.
Bertrand, Freddy and Francois, congratulations on these wonderful results from the entire HERBOTS TEAM.
Buelens Kim
