Motton-Coel 2nd National Champion KBDB GHF young pigeons 5th National ace KBDB GHF young pigeons.

In this early spring, we went to Frederik Motton and Matthias Coel's house to have a look at the cooperation between these two friends. We were warmly welcomed on this sunny spring day to Hélécine at Frederik's home.

The story behind Motton-Coel Pigeons
The story of this successful partnership began in 2009 when they got in touch thanks to the internet.  Matthias rolled into pigeon racing in the year 2000 and started playing in Rotselaar with pigeons he got from distant relatives and fanciers in the area and some purchased pigeons. From the start, almost all distances were played and with a 4th national on Limoges, the first top result was already a fact. The bar was set high right from the start! The accommodation then consisted of a loft of 10 and 5 metres and an aviary on which the speed was played. Matthias was helped by his neighbour Frederik Sterckx who taught him the basics of pigeon racing. Matthias felt at home there and sat in his neighbour's sofa every day. 
During the same period, he also came into contact with Albert Derwa through the pigeon loft ” Sans Peur ’ in Herent. After the death of Fré Sterckx, Albert took over the mentor role completely. He visited Matthias several times a week to advise and assist him. We are now some 20 years later and Matthias is still at home with Albert and Francine. He still gets all the help and is supported in all ways. Matthias is incredibly grateful to Albert and Francine for everything. Without them, it would have been much more difficult for Matthias in pigeon racing. There is also no need to talk about pigeons all the time. Matthias therefore regularly visits their good friends together with the whole family. On Albert's advice, Matthias started focusing on young pigeon racing around 2009. Since time was also eagerly spent on other pursuits and work had to be done, playing all disciplines was not doable.  In 2014, he moved for love to Boortmeerbeek where Matthias now enjoys life with his wife Sylvia and children Félicia and Lionel. The combination family/work/pigeons kept the focus on the young pigeon game and this with success ! The current location now houses a 5 m loft with 2 aviaries where the season is started every year with 80 to 100 youngsters. In the beginning, they also played with a team of hens but due to their complexity, it was decided not to do this anymore. This in itself was not an easy choice after winning the 8th national ace pigeon yearling GHF KBDB 2020.  To keep the combination of family and pigeons running smoothly, Matthias can count on the help of his family, friends and some neighbours who are always ready to help. So keeping things as simple as possible is always the aim.

For Frederik, everything started in the early 2000s when he started playing with pigeons in Tienen. Initially, it didn't go very well, so in 2007 he decided to either do it right or stop altogether. He went knocking on the doors of good fanciers in the neighbourhood such as Van Avondt and Herbots (where Frederik himself had worked as a job student during several summers and where he learned a lot about pigeon care) and a lot of new pigeons moved to Tienen. 
One of the most important persons in this period who supported Frederik with good pigeons as well as numerous tips and good advice was the late Florent Materne. This was his mentor (as it was with Matthias Albert) with whom Frederik spent countless hours and learned a lot. A man with a golden heart and an unprecedented feeling for pigeons. With the newly acquired pigeons, Florent put together the new breeding couples and after two years he put together the golden breeding couple. They immediately became parents in 2009 of the 2nd Nat. Argenton against 28000 pigeons and in 2013 of the 3rd Nat. Gueret against 15007 pigeons. And so the train had also left Tienen.
Frederik moved to Hélécine in 2020 where he and his wife Zoë built their home and in 2023 their son Finn was born. In Hélécine, things are deliberately kept small as there has to be time for other pursuits even there, not to mention work. A group of hens is played annually (from speed to great middle distance) and 1 or 2 smaller groups of youngsters are kept to have fun throughout the summer on the various disciplines as well. 
The contacts between Matthias and Frederik, which became increasingly intense over the years, eventually grew into a close friendship and strong cooperation in which the victories and titles already achieved speak for themselves. It was in the year 2011 that the cooperation really took off when it was decided to invest in partnership and build something in association. In that year, the first pigeons were bought from Albert Derwa and immediately achieved success.

A successful breeding loft

In 2018, it was decided to bring both breeding lofts together. The two best halves of each breeding loft thus came together in Tienen at Jos, Frederik's father. Jos therefore plays a very important role in this cooperation as he takes care of the breeding, for which Matthias and Frederik would like to thank him very much. During the racing season, Frederik can also always count on Jos to let the pigeons out and take care of them when Frederik has to go to work, and he also takes care of all the patch races. Jos is therefore an indispensable link in this cooperation. The breeding loft consists of 26 couples and 24 breeders. The breeders are paired around 6 December, after which the eggs are shifted once. Every year the couples are changed (with a few exceptions). The youngsters are then divided with the first round going to Boortmeerbeek and the second and third rounds to Hélécine.

In this class breeding loft we mainly find 3 basic lines : 
- the Ona line -> 8th Nat. acebird GHF KBDB 2020 -> in fact the basic line, a combination of Matthias' old type crossed with Priscilla-Vinci (a daughter of Invictus x Priscilla (4th Nat. acebird GHF) from Albert Derwa, coupled with a daughter of strong breeder Torres from Davy Tournelle
- the Olympiade line -> the cock comes directly from Herbots Gebr. and is a son of George (9th Nat. acebird GHF) and the hen comes from a golden breeding pair, again coupled against Priscilla-Vinci. This pair is already parent to 2 Olympiad birds and 2 1st Prov. Ace birds. 
- Derwa-Luxem line ("Derwa couple ’) -> this couple comes directly from Albert and is already parent and grandparent of several Olympiad pigeons. 
The breeding loft was also completed over the years with pigeons from Veulemans-Perilleux, Tom and Jan Iwens, Michel Lossignol, Danny Van hoof, Davy Tournelle, Herbots and Vanhoudt -Serre.

Ona
In the first year of breeding together, the famous ‘ Ona ’ 8th national ace GHF 2020 was born. It was then jointly decided not to sell this hen but to put it on the breeding loft. Looking at the list of breeding results, we can only conclude that this was a very good choice. Meanwhile, Ona is mother and grandmother of pigeons with top references ! Every year Ona is also paired with several proven top cocks from other fanciers.
She has already been coupled with cocks from Albert Derwa (Invictus), Tom and Jan Iwens (Den Brave and Vici), Davy Tournelle (Tiësto's Hero), Veulemans-Perilleux (Rinus), Michel Lossisgnol (De Stuntman) and with top cocks from Walter Lambeets and Vanhoudt - Serré.  The offspring of these pairings then immediately moved to the breeding loft to strengthen it and bring in new blood.

Ona is (grand) mother to countless number of 1st prize winners and winners of: 

5th Nat. Ace KBDB Great middle distance youngbirds 2024
19th Nat. Ace KBDB short distance 2023
12th World Best Pigeon yearbirds 2023
13th World Best Pigeon yearbirds 2024
13th World Best Pigeon Youngbirds 2024
Co-winner 2nd Nat. Championship  KBDB GMD youngbirds 2024
Co-winners 11th Nat. Championship KBDB Short distance youngbirds 2024
2de, 4de, 5de, 9de As der Azen national youngbirds Herbots Championships 
1ste As der Azen Flanders Youngbirds Herbots Championships
2de, 7de, 10de ace middle distance Flanders Herbots Championships

Care and medical supervision

When it comes to care and medical supervision, there is of course a lot of discussion but in the end they both do what they feel best with.  As far as nutrition is concerned, Matthias works with the Beyers mixtures Galaxy breeding, moulting, sport light and sport energy. Frederik, on the other hand, has switched to the Aidi mixtures (flight mix 1, 2 and 3) for the racing season since 2022. For medical guidance, at least, they don't have to look far. Frederik's nephew, Simon Cans, is one of the managers of Neornivet and is ready with his professional advice for them at the slightest doubt. Neornivet's vaccination schedule for the youngsters is followed blindly on his advice.  As by-products, Matthias mainly uses products from Comed and Schroeder-Tollisan. Frederik, on the other hand, is a big fan of Wonder Pigeon and also uses Comed, Schroeder-Tollisan and Neornivet by-products. Whereas in recent years the focus has been on the national races for the youngsters, Matthias has reverted to the old system since last year. Starting to play early and playing a lot. Despite this, the youngsters are darkened from the beginning of March to the end of June and lighted afterwards. Frederik takes it a bit easier with the youngsters and tries to basket youngsters in almost all races. The youngsters go outside once a day and are rapped once a week in season if possible. They are fed once a day on the ground and get as much as they want. Attention, everything must be eaten. From the moment some is left over, feeding is stopped. Around mid-July, at the start of the national season, the sexes are separated and play on the sliding door. At Hélécine, we also play with a group of hens. This year the team consists of 22 hens including 4 old ones. The hens spend the day in the aviary to prevent mating as much as possible. They spend the night in the night loft where a roller system was installed this year. The hens team fly speed as well as small and large middle-distance flights. In preparation for the races, the pigeons are given the same menu (to keep it simple). So pigeons basketed for speed get the same as those leaving for a GHF flight. This has caused little to no disadvantages to Frederik. The cocks are also not shown before basketing but each time they come home (also when raking). In preparation for the breeding season, we also follow Simon's vaccination schedule. 

Best results and entries of recent years.

2023
44 X 1ste prijs
5de World Best Pigeon All round
12de World Best Pigeon jaarlingen
19de nat. Asduif KBDB snelheid
4 vermeldingen Gouden duif

2024
2de nat. kampioen KBDB GHF jonge duiven
5de nat. asduif KBDB GHF jonge duiven
13de World Best Pigeon jaarlingen
13de World Best Pigeon jonge duiven
5 vermeldingen Gouden duif 
Overwinningen en veel topnoteringen Herbots Championships

We thank Frederik and Matthias for their welcome and wish both guys another excellent season !

Lelièvre-Damit Julien