Kristof De Winter (Tremelo) wins 1st Provincial Argenton 1,952 young pigeons

Argenton National was postponed by a week due to the very hot weather during the mid-August weekend when this race was scheduled. Therefore, it was decided to move the race forward by a week, but the pigeons were not given their freedom on Saturday. On Sunday morning, however, it was their turn, and they were released at 8:00 AM. It was a tough but fair race in which the first pigeons did not reach 1200 m/min, but where the first pigeons nationally were very close together. It was a matter of working with decimal places to find the winner. The 2nd and 4th places differ by 1 second, and nestled between them is the cock belonging to Krisof De Winter from Tremelo in Brabant.

His young cock is no novice, and 3 brothers from this pair are performing fantastically this year. The mother of these pigeons was his best racer last year, and after much deliberation, he chose to place her in the breeding loft. Now, a year later, he certainly does not regret it.

Unfortunately, Kristof is now running the pigeon colony entirely on his own. He took over the loft at his grandfather's location in Tremelo. He himself lives in Begijnendijk and drives there every day before and after work. In between, his father used to help let the pigeons out, but unfortunately, his father passed away in the middle of the season, leaving him completely on his own from now on. He subsequently took a week off and a real vacation to unwind, and the pigeons simply had to adapt to the situation. He drives there before work, and in the morning, the pigeons are given their freedom. The loft is open then, and they are allowed to enter whenever they want. Food is ready in the feeding trough, and they do as they please. In the late afternoon, around 4:30 PM, he drives back there, and they come out a second time.

He does this mainly because, for the first time this year, the young pigeons stayed together. This was done to save time, and as you can see, it works. The young pigeons were kept in darkness until early June and only started receiving artificial light from early August. The goal here is always for the young cocks to go to the national races, while the best 4 cocks are allowed to stay for the breeding loft. The young hens fly 2 or 3 times in the middle distance, and from these I select my best yearlings. As yearlings, only hens are raced. The winner of Argenton was entered with a 15-day-old youngster.

On the day of basketing, the pigeons do not train anymore. They usually get a bath then, which is left standing for the entire day. They always receive enough food; at the beginning of the week I give them Galaxy Sport Beyers, and on Wednesday it is Aidi Vliegmix 2, and on Thursday Aidi Vliegmix 3. Furthermore, since this year, I have been giving the Big 5 from Comed for 5 days a week (Roni, Lysocur, Miobol, Stopmite, and Curol). I give all of this together: a portion via the drinking water and the rest mixed with the food. From a medical perspective, I only had to treat the young pigeons for trichomoniasis and coccidiosis during the preparation this year. After that, I left it alone, and the check after Argenton (which was back in May) was also negative, so we will get them ready for their final flights of the season.

Argenton Winner

BE 26-2024621 Cock

1 Provinciaal Argenton 1.952 youngsters 
3 Nationaal Argenton 15.769 youngsters
3 Soissons 364p
4 Melun 199p
10 Soissons 408p
20 Soissons 584p
30 Soissons 599p
1146 Nat Bourges 16.705p

Father BE 22-2093806 Blue 
Best young cock in 2022 
Son of “487/19” Blue Willy De Winter x “491/21” Blue White-winged Van Dijck – Van Dijck 

Mother BE 23-2011627 Blue 
Won herself 1st Soissons 620p – 3rd Soissons 3,713p – 5th Soissons 1,295p - 12th Momignies 3,001p – 13th Soissons 677p – 18th Nat Bourges 13,580p – 89th Nat Bourges 8,131p – 128th Nat Bourges 20,328p – 153rd Nat Bourges 5,261p – 272nd Nat Bourges 7,617p - 60th Momignies 2,895p
Daughter of “063/20” Van Hoof Vanwijngaerden x “632/21” best breeding hen Patricia Verhaegen

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

Buelens Kim