Nick & Roger Thys (Hallaar) shine again with 1st National Ace Pigeon All Round young KBDB 2024
05 May 2025
Winning National Ace Pigeons is and remains a special event. Tension and competition all over the country ensure great competitions between the very best colonies and especially between the very best pigeons that fly in our pigeon country. The colony of Nick & Roger Thys from Hallaar in Antwerp has brought home several national ace pigeons in recent years and in the 2024 season they also provided another 1st National Ace Pigeon All Round for young pigeons KBDB. This time with their topper “Iron Sagan” who will also be raced in 2025 has already achieved some great top results. In addition to this national ace pigeon, they also won 1st National La Souterraine against 7,368 yearlings with a hen “Blue Dream”. Many people send a national winner or winner to the breeding loft, but here it was simply raced further. At the end of the season, this hen became 13th National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB, so again no coincidence but simply a super good pigeon. Anyone who looks at the list of ace pigeons knows that we are talking about one of the best colonies of our country in which Roger's wife Godelieve has a very important hand. She says not but she is the woman who feeds and much more. Anyone who wins 4 x 1st National Ace Pigeon in a period of 4 seasons, you take your hat off to that…
List of high-level titles will simply be extended in 2024
4 x 1st NATIONAL ACE PIGEON IN THE PERIOD OF 2022-2024
1st National Ace Pigeon All Round young KBDB 2024
1st National La Souterraine 7,368p
13th Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2024
14th National Champion heavy middle distance old / yearlings KBDB 2024
20th Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2024
27th Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance old KBDB 2024
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
1st Provincial champion heavy middle distance olds/yearlings KBDB 2023
2nd National champion heavy middle distance olds/yearlings KBDB 2023
2nd Nat Olympiad Pigeon Cat. D Maastricht 2024
2nd National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance 2023 (6 KBDB races)
8th National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
12th National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
15th National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance KBDB 2023
Below we only mention the 1st places in some top championships since 2021
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2022
1st National Ace Pigeon All Round youngsters KBDB 2022
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
1st Provincial champion heavy middle distance olds/yearlings KBDB 2023
1st Provincial Ace Pigeon middle distance youngsters KBDB 2022
1st National Champion heavy middle distance youngsters KBDB 2021
1st National Argenton 14,787 old birds
1st National (z) Bourges 3,333 yearlings
1st National (z) La Souterraine 1,634 youngsters
1st General Champion Long Distance Club Antwerp
1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings (8 races )
The racing team on classic widowhood.
The racing team consists of both cocks and hens that have partners that stay at home during the season. Last winter, just like every winter, a few racing pigeons were paired to each other to breed early youngsters and thus quickly learn more about the breeding qualities of the best racing pigeons. The other pigeons are in the aviary at that time and only come to the racing loft when all the youngsters have been weaned. The season usually old pigeons that breed but the national ace pigeon “Iron Sagan” was allowed to raise a nest.
At the end of February the pigeons are released here again but the pigeons did not fly hard again, not before the season and not during the season. A broad basic condition as we notice in other lofts is therefore not here. Does it all have to be or do we feel better about it? Who knows, if the results are good you should not change anything in a well-functioning team. In April we let them out twice a day to lay a bit more of a foundation, now that the flights of 300km and more are coming up we are going to reduce this to once a day. The pigeons then cover enough kilometres for us in the weekend, so recuperation is just as important.
The hens are darkened from 1 March to the beginning of May, we do not do this with the cocks. Just like lighting, which is not an option for us. Our racing pigeons are allowed to raise a nest after the season and then go into moulting.
The hens have a resting loft with rollers on the floor and an aviary in front of the resting loft in which they are allowed to stay. Only when the weather is very warm do we open the window and give them the choice between aviary and resting loft. The pigeons should not be burned in this either. The cocks always have the choice between breeding loft and resting loft, just like the young pigeons.
Motivation
We attach very little importance to motivation, our racing pigeons are always well paired with each other but apart from that we will never show them before basketing. We prefer to keep our pigeons calm. We let our hens fly to the box on the day of basketing and take them away immediately. We do this only for convenience and not as motivation. We simply take the cocks into their living box.
When they return home, they are allowed to be together immediately for the first flights and they can stay together for 1 hour or a little longer. After the middle distance has started, we let them recover a bit before letting them together.
We increasingly choose to keep our pigeons moving and not keep them at home. A shorter flight after a few tough flights is perfectly possible and is sometimes very necessary, but staying home is rarely an option.
Toppers of the 2024 season
BE 24-6097418 “Iron Sagan” Blue Cock
1st National Ace Pigeon All Round young KBDB 2024
This pigeon was a special one as they say, in the beginning this pigeon never wanted to leave with the group. He immediately fell on the ridge of home and stayed there until he thought the moment was ripe to start training with the group, but that certainly did not last long. Nick & Roger were a bit tired of this and Nick took him to his home. Nick lives 1km from his parents and released him there. Again he went to the roof and this pigeon flew home after a while. That was exactly the signal that I have to fly more in the air to get in shape. Afterwards this pigeon just flew with the group and became national ace pigeon. So you see that you should not judge too quickly if a pigeon does not want to train with the group.
1 Noyon 534p
3 Ecouen 3.303p
14 Nat Vierzon 16.892p
21 Quievrain 8.556p
34 Prov Fay Aux Loges 4.208p
67 Prov Melun 9.551p
564 Nat Bourges 26.549p
Father BE 19-6123407 New Sagan – Patrick Boeckx
Won himself 1 Noyon 1,553p – 1 Melun 1,292p – 12 Melun 885p
Full brother of “Sagan” 1 Nat Ace Pigeon Sprint KBDB 2013
Gr.F. BE 11-6069063 Father Sagan – Patrick Boeckx
Son of “BE 06-378” Blauwe Leo Heremans is grandson Olympiade 003
x “BE 10-041” Daughter Goede Rode Dirk Van Den Bulck
Gr.M. BE 11-609056 Blue Luna - Patrick Boeckx
Daughter of “BE 04-496” Tomba La Bomba is grandfather of “Sagan” x “BE 09-877” De 77
Mother BE 18-6063549 Pie
Won herself 1 Melun 2,090p – 2 Noyon 1,095p – 3 Chevrain 646p - 5 Melun 3,249p – 6 Melun 313p - 9 Chevrain 1,192p
Super breeding hen
Mother of “028/22” 6 Nat Ace Pigeon middle distance young KBDB 2022
Gr.F. BE 09-6169816 Den 16 Son Portier
½ brother of base breeder “Witte 6” (same father)
Son of “BE 06-039” Portier won himself 3 x 1st x “BE 07-209” The 09 was 1st Ace Pigeon middle distance 2009
Gr.M. BE 14-6274422 Super 422
Won herself 1 Noyon 896p – 1 Sourdun 640p – 3 Noyon 1,383p – 10 Nat (z) Chateauroux 5,939p
16 Nat Bourges 19,736p – 22 Nat Gueret 16,262p – 116 Nat Argenton 19,925p
Grandmother of “Sparrow” 1 Nat Argenton 14,787p – 16 Nat Gueret 12,888p
“Sparrow” is herself a proven top breeder of several national top racers
½ sister of “Black Pearl” is mother of 2 x 1st National Ace Pigeon KBDB 2022
Daughter of “BE 12-511” Den 511 x “BE 12-521” Queen 21 Foundation mother
BE 22-6034008 “De 008” Blue white head Hen
31 NAT Bourges 23.847p
43 NAT Argenton 15.210p
75 NAT Chateauroux 13.096p
70 NAT Bourges 6.713p
77 NAT Argenton 16.547p
112 I.Prov. Vierzon 6.133p
Full sister of “Witte Nagels” 7 Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance young KBDB 2021
Won a.o. 24 Nat Argenton 23,124p – 63 Nat Chateauroux 18,741p
Full sister of “650/21” 1 Nat (z) La Souterraine 1,634p ( 13 NAT 14,315p ) – 31 Nat Argenton 23,124p
Father BE 17-6189170 Witten As
Gr.F. BE 14-6274403 Thor – Super breeder
Father of “562/16” 6 Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB ’17
Gr.M. BE 15-6269451 As Kaier – 4 Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance old KBDB 2017
Won a.o. 4 NAT Chateauroux 10,444p – 22 Nat (z) Issoudun 2,831p - 29 Nat (z) Bourges 5,801p – 43 Nat (z) Chateauroux 5,058p - 51 Nat Argenton 13,708p
Mother BE 17-6042924 Geert Lambrechts
Super breeding hen
Mother of “Tammeke” 1st Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings 8 KBDB races 2021
Grandmother of “Fonne” 1st National Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2023
2nd Nat Olympiad pigeon Cat. D Maastricht 2024 - 3rd Prov Ace Pigeon middle distance young KBDB 2022 ( after 2 loft mates )
Gr.F. BE 11-6132214 Lambrechts Stefaan
Gr.M. BE 14-6078731 Geert Lambrechts
BE 23-6019057 “Blue Dream” Blue Hen
13 Nat Ace Pigeon heavy middle distance yearlings KBDB 2024
1 NAT La Souterraine 7.368p ( fastest of 12.611p )
69 NAT Argenton 11.777p
75 NAT Bourges 9.654p
216 NAT Bourges 18.785p
Father NL 20-1496961 Blue white feather – G & S Verkerk
Gr.F. NL 15-1706415 Tony - G & S Verkerk
Won 2 Prov Ace Pigeon 2017
Gr.M. NL 16-1526207 Mermaid - G & S Verkerk
Won 1 Prov Ace Pigeon 2018 and is ½ sister “Princess” 1 Nat Ace Pigeon long distance 2016
Mother BE 16-62555546 Checkered
Won herself 11 Prov Montlucon 1,136p - 50 NAT Argenton 15,235p – 72 NAT Chateauroux 14,955p – 107 NAT Montlucon - 111 NAT Argenton 19,592p
Gr.F. BE 14-6274435 Blue
½ brother base breeder Whitee 6 – Willy Daniels x Thys
Gr.M. BE 13-6283940 Daughter Witte 6
Won herself 6 Prov Bourges 2,663p – 19 NAT Gueret 12,516p – 26 Prov Chalons 1,276p
Daughter of founding sire “White 6” x “563/12” 1 Souppes 315p – 2 Noyon 666p
Young pigeons
The young pigeons are divided into 2 groups, with these groups it is always middle distance and especially the national flights which is really our terrain. But if you want to have a chance of a national ace pigeon all round they have to do well at all distances.
As mentioned above, the pigeons have the choice between loft and aviary. This aviary is located at the front but can also be completely screened off with windbreak mesh. The amount of oxygen in the aviary is determined every day by removing or adding panels.
We darken our young talent until the longest day of the year and take them away 8 to 10 times before they go to Quievrain, we increasingly opt to play Quievrain 4x in 2 weeks if it is possible due to the midweek flights. This way the pigeons really learn to gain confidence for their further flights. Afterwards we make the jump to Noyon but it can also quickly go towards middle distance, we are less afraid of that. After darkening, they are put on the natural times for 2 to 3 weeks and from then on the additional lighting starts until the end of the season.
The young pigeons are only on the sliding door after Noyon and always train in the morning. So they will have to gain as much experience as possible and prove themselves if they want to get among the racing team of yearlings. The hens fly more national flights while the cocks are kept more on the middle distance with the exception of superstar "Iron Sagan". Here too, we choose Quievrain or Noyon between the national flights depending on the flight and weather.
The young pigeons get Aidi Breeding until we want them to really start flying, this is usually in April when we think it is time and from then on the mixture is made lighter. Now the young pigeons get 50% Breeding and 50% Aidi 1.
Guidance
We have been using the full range of Aidi since 2021 and are very satisfied with it. During the season we use Vliegmix 1,2 and 3. The schedule depends on what has happened and what is to come. We feed several times on the day of basketing so that the tank is as full as possible.
After the season the pigeons get Aidi Rui until the last feather has been changed, after that they get Aidi Rust until the new season starts.
In the medical field we always go for a check-up with Dr.Mariën. We use his condition powder weekly and his condition syrup once a month. During the breeding period his vitamineral is also an important factor. The pigeons were also checked this season and nothing was found so up to now they have not received anything apart from yellow drops (1 feeding). These drops are added to the food on Sunday and we do this every week when the season has started. When we get home we always use Belgasol from Belgica De Weerd and during the week we mainly use Health Elixir or Condition Booster from Aidi.
Nick & Roger, congratulations on these fantastic results from the entire HERBOTS TEAM.
Buelens Kim
